Renewed Light
by AoifeUnudottir
Summary: With Maleficent returned, King Mickey must venture to a new world - the Digital World - to find the 8th princess of heart. But does Hikari have the strength to weild the keyblade and defeat the powers of darkness? Kingdom hearts XOVER
1. Prologue and Resurection

Pebbles: *peeks out from behind the sofa* Is the angry mob gone? Are they gone? *comes out from behind the sofa.

Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Please don't stone me to the ground (I can get stoned very well by myself. Kidding.) I know I haven't updated any of my other stories in, like, FOREVER. And I'm well aware (although you might not be) that I do not intend to continue any of my previous stories. So, quickly, _**if anyone would like to continue any of my previous stories, send me a pm or e-mail and I will answer any questions. Please use them and give me a link to where you post them. **_

SOOO here we go on another adventure, hopefully one that I will complete. (*fingers crossed*) So far, I have 13 chapters planned in detail, so I know what I will be writing for the next 13 chapters, but I also have my world-links plan figured out, so I know where they're going, and so far, I'm about a third of the way through it. Great... But I thought I can't wait any longer, and I want to see what kind of feedback I will be getting from this storyline.

So, in case the blurb didn't sell it that well, this is a Digimon/Kingdom Hearts crossover. On a quick note, I am assuming that you (the reader) know at least the basics about Digimon or Kingdom Hearts, but it's not necessary. Besides, the internet is a tumult of knowledge. I'm sure anything you don't understand, you will be able to use Google. There's a link also at the bottom of this page to the Kingdom Hearts Wikipedia, which has a plethora of KH knowledge, including storylines...etc.

Okay, for those of you who DO know the KH storylines, my story is set after KH1. This story does not include anything from Chain of Memories, or Kingdom Hearts to. So, sorry, but no Roxas, Naminé, Axel or anybody outside of the Kingdom Hearts 1 storyline.

And, as you're in the category, I assume you know the storyline of Digimon? This one will be, as most of mine are, set AFTER the 02 storyline. Again, anything you're unsure of, Google's right there. =]

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, any of the Disney characters, places or products, or any of the Digimon characters, places or products. However, I will claim to own the concept of this story.

This is the part where I shut up for now. I will see you at the end of the chapter, and have fun reading!

* * *

**Prologue and Resurrection**

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"_A long time ago, there was a very powerful Light princess. She had not a speck of darkness in her heart, body or soul, and the same was true with her family, her friends and those in her Kingdom. Unfortunately, when she became Queen, her darkness-free leadership upset the balance of light and dark, and the powers of the heartless became too great, so that only she could defeat them. She fought as many as she could, but she could not be everywhere at once, and soon people in her kingdom started dying, slain by the heartless. Enraged, she defeated more and more of the heartless, but this only made the nobodies stronger, and soon it was too much for her to cope with, and the worlds were being overrun by darkness. Her most trusted adviser, a youngling called Mickey Mouse, realised that the only way the balance could be restored would be if she sacrificed herself and the other thirteen people left of her kingdom. Though reluctant at first, the pain and bloodshed of the city made it impossible for her to think otherwise, so she entrusted her advisor with the role of King, over not only her own world but every world of the realm, and she used her magic to preserve the souls of her kingdom until a more suitable time. Gradually, one by one, the souls reawakened and took form, although nobody is quite sure where or even where; the eight princesses and eight protectors scattered themselves throughout time to help preserve the balance. _

_Blessed by the powers of the Light princess, the new-King Mickey forged himself a world of his own, from where he could rule over all of the other worlds. Using possessions from the only remaining people of the Light kingdom, he created a way to monitor their souls. He would not know exactly where they reawakened, but he would be alerted when they did so, and he would have an idea of where to find them."_

An extract from "_The History of the Worlds and all Things in them"_ by Ansem the Wise.

Slowly she felt her senses returning to her. She could feel the cold, hard stone beneath her, and she could taste the particular tang of magic in the air. She could hear the sighs of relief as she took her first breath, and she could smell the stench of fear upon those who might betray her. Opening her eyes, she stared up at the ceiling, revelling in how it felt to be alive.

For too long, she had waited in the abyss of darkness, her powers sustaining only her soul, and nothing more. Now she had finally been reawakened by those loyal to her, and it felt wonderful. She slowly flexed her long, bony fingers, and she twitched her thin, elegant legs, smiling lightly as she felt the satin material of her clothes brush against them. So many senses that she had missed in the abyss; so many things the darkness could not recreate. Oh, how she loved it.

She sat up slowly and looked around. Crowding her, with looks of shock and awe upon their faces, were her most loyal. The great Captain Hook stood to one side, the silver replacement for his hand glinting in the candlelight as his captain's hat, complete with an overly-large brim and a large feather, shadowed his face. Next to him stood Ursula, who had used her magic to give herself legs that were covered in a long, dark gown that stretched over her voluptuous figure, her skin glowing with a purple hue. Away from her side stood Jafar, in his regal, red robes that stated his position as royal vizier. Sulking in a corner, and only visible by the blue fire of his hair, stood Hades, arms crossed over his dark, lithe body, and it was almost as though he was boring holes into the backs of the others. She swept her gaze over all of them, feeling her heart sink as she noticed some of her strongest allies missing. Oogie Boogie, for one, had been defeated and destroyed in his own world, and then there was Clayton, who had not returned after his miserable defeat. And Riku had defeated the darkness inside of him, and therefore no longer fought for her. It was sad, really, he had been so strong.

"You took your time," she said snidely. She stood, smiling at the ripple of anger she caused throughout the group of villains. But, wisely, they held their tongues, and instead shared glances she knew they thought she would ignore. She held onto the knowledge for later.

"We needed to gather the necessary power," Jafar said, stepping forwards. "After you were unfortunately lost to us, we were left powerless, and we had to find new sources of darkness to be able to resurrect you."

"And I suppose that wretch Sora and his little _princess-_" She spat the word; how she hated the pair. "-haven't been relenting, either."

"Well, they were pieceful for a time, which was when we gathered most of our forces," Hook replied, "but they were somehow alerted to our presence and our plans, and they began to move against us, stronger now than before." The other villains murmured in agreement.

"They are not stronger," she scoffed, "you were merely weaker. Without my power behind you, you had not a hope of defeating them. But now you have seen sense, and although it took you time, it was not a complete waste." She walked around the large stone chamber, drinking in the familiar room until she found herself standing before her throne once more. She slowly made her way up the steps towards the seat, running her hands over the cold stone adornments as she went. The others were silent behind her as she sat, and she looked down at their expectant faces with a smile. They were practically bouncing on their heels to know what she meant.

"How do you mean, Maleficent?" Ursula ventured, asking the question of everyone's mind. Maleficent smiled, hearing her name once more returned a sense of power to her, and she resisted the urge to scoff at the revolting woman's appearance.

"When I was in the abyss, a voice spoke to me and informed me of a part of history overlooked by everybody, including that fool Mickey," she explained. "Not many of you will know about the Kingdom of Light, but it was a world that existed a long time before ours. The world was so filled with light that the darkness became so strong and unbeatable that only a handful of the kingdom's occupants remained. The princess of this world, having taken up her mother's crown, sacrificed herself and her kingdom to restore the balance. The souls of those left scattered themselves through the worlds, restoring themselves as Princesses of Heart."

"The seven..." Hades breathed, stepping forwards out of the shadows.

"Not quite," she answered. "There was an eighth – the princess with the power over the Light Kingdom; the one with more light than all of the others. This princess will be the key to unlocking the ultimate darkness, even stronger than the Kingdom Hearts. Once we get all eight together, we shall rule all, and you each will have the power to control your worlds!" She had risen to her feet by now, and she lifted her arms above her head, looking to the ceiling as realization dawned upon her, too – that wench Aurora and all those in her castle and kingdom would be worthless to her once she had unleashed the immense power in store for them. She laughed. At first, it was a small cackle, but it soon escalated into the maniacal laughter her comrades were used to hearing. They joined her in her cheering, each of them adding their own cackle to the mix, until it was a roaring sound that rocked the foundations of the castle.

* * *

Sighing, Hikari took her things out of her locker and placed them into her schoolbag. Whereas normally she would leave any unwanted books at school over the weekend, it was the end of summer term, and she had to clean out her entire locker. Her bag weighed a tonne, and it almost brought her down to the ground. She would freely admit that she had no muscle anywhere on her body, but being taken down by a schoolbag was just ridiculous.

Suddenly there was a burst of laughter and cheering from up the corridor. Turning slowly, she knew what to expect; the basketball team, proudly making their way through the school halls like the owned the place, blowing kisses to girls and high-fiving all the guys, nudging the nerds out of the way. In the middle was Takeru, and Hikari sighed as she looked at him. Once, she reminisced, that sigh might have been full of love, romance and dreams of teenage sweethearts, but after a couple of years on the basketball team, and his brother's rising success with his band, fame and popularity had gone to his head, and he's become just like every other sports jock.

The team made their way past her, and she turned around to continue emptying her locker and to put her outdoor shoes on. But, no sooner had she put the last book in her bag, she was suddenly shoved towards her locker. Her cheekbone met the corner of the adjacent locker, and she hissed in pain, turning sharply. The team laughed, and Ryuji high-fived Jiro, another member of the team. She locked eyes with Takeru, who had been laughing too, and he stopped for a moment, as if he only just remembered her. Then he continued to laugh, although less heartily, and he carried on down the corridor. Looking around, Hikari noticed other students sniggering at her misfortune from behind their hands and she scoffed to herself, ignoring the throbbing pain in her cheek. She shoved her feet into her shoes and she slammed her locker shut, leaving the school as quickly as she could.

She glanced over towards the soccer fields as she left, noticing Daisuke practicing with the school soccer team. She'd grown apart from him, too. No longer did he flirt with her and try to gain her attention; now he focused on soccer, and did just enough school work to stay on the team. They rarely spoke nowadays, and full conversations were even rarer. She watched as he scored a perfect goal and she smiled sadly before continuing to walk back to her empty home.

Becoming lonely had been a gradual thing, and everyone had contributed something towards it. Taichi had gone off on a politics course on a whim in Tokyo, and because he had gone, Sora and Yamato didn't call round to the house as much anymore, and Hikari had lost contact with them. Miyako was busy studying for her exams in the year above, and when she wasn't studying, she was working at her family's convenience. And, when she did go out, it wasn't with Hikari. She hadn't even been invited to a single one of Miyako's outings.

Iori, a year below, was busy helping his grandfather run a new training dojo downtown, and she hadn't really been that close to him anyway. Jyou was away at a medical college in Kyoto, Mimi was in America, and Koushiro, who had many advanced degrees in technology despite his young age, was working for himself doing extensive computer repairs or renewals, and then using the money to travel the world like he'd always wanted to. And as for Hikari, she had realised the friendships they had made through the Digital World wouldn't last, and that, unfortunately, school _was_ important. So she'd studied more and went out less. She went to the first few reunions and get-togethers, but stopped going after Taichi left, and she just felt like a third wheel. The group was split, and although it had been that way for just under three years, Hikari had yet to find a new clique of friends.

Tired, she let herself into the apartment she still shared with her parents. Well, her parents owned it, and paid the rent and gave her money for food, at least. But recently her father had been promoted, and with this promotion came more business trips and company holidays (all expenses paid by the company, of course). So her parents weren't around as much, leaving her to her own devices in Odaiba, and calling to check up once a week when they were away. They usually called on Mondays, depending on their holiday schedule.

Collapsing onto her bed, she looked over to her windowsill, where a single figure sat beneath the open window. Hikari smiled at him and sat up, patting the bed lightly, and the creature hopped off the sill, ran across the floor in its own, funny little way, and scrambled onto the bed, looking up at her with what she was sure would have been a smile, if the creature had a mouth. It was completely black, with a body shaped like a person, only the legs and arms were thin and its belly was rounded, protruding over its large, sharply-shaped feet, which ended in a point. It had three fingers on each hand, all of which looked somewhat sharp, although Hikari had found them to be quite limp and soft whenever she touched them, and its head was completely round and blank, save for two, yellow circles for eyes, two, spidery antennas, one of which flopped back down towards its head, and a small white triangle where she assumed a mouth would be. She had decided quite early on that he was male, and had subsequently called him Kurokiba, or "black fang". He seemed to like the name.

He looked at her with those small, yellow dots and cocked his head to the side, as though asking a question. She giggled slightly.

"Today was okay," she said. "Not really anything different, just more studying and studying. We watched a film in English – some English movie called "_Freedom Writers_", but we only got halfway through. Other than that, nothing much to say." Kurokiba slowly walked up her legs until he could reach her, and he gently touched her cheek. She winced away and he gave her a look that clearly said "explain". She sighed.

"One of the basketball jocks pushed me into the locker," she replied. "It's nothing." Kurokiba backed away slightly and clenched one hand before pummelling it into the other, shoulders hunched and antenna trembling angrily. She placed a hand on his shaking fists to calm him.

"It's nothing, just a couple of arrogant boys thinking they own the school because they can shoot a few hoops. I'll survive," she reassured him. He held her hand in his and cocked his head to the side again. She nodded, taking her hand back and standing up. "Yes, I'm sure. Now I've got to get some studying done, so you can watch TV or do whatever, okay?" Kurokiba nodded and followed her over to her desk. As she sat down and pulled out her books, he curled up underneath her lamp and watched her. She pressed play on her CD player and smiled at Kurokiba before getting on with her homework.

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Pebbles: There you go, folks, the first chapter in what will probably be a long story. So far, I've planned thirteen chapters, and I'm not even halfway through! Ah, it'll get there, and so will we.

So, obviously, this story crosses Kingdom Hearts with Digimon (and, no, I don't own anything really). I'm relying on you all to have a basic knowledge of Kingdom Hearts, but if you don't, I'll try to put reference points in wherever I can. So, here are your first:

**REFERENCE POINTS:**

Kurokiba (and the same image for all of those like him):

http:// www . jrj-socrates . com / Cartoon%20Pics / Disney / Kingdom%20Hearts / Shadow_Heartless_300 . gif

Kingdom Hearts Wiki (If you're ever unsure of anything, search for it here:

http:// kingdomhearts . wikia . com / wiki / Main_Page

(Sorry I had to put spaces in there, otherwise FF brings up a hell of a lot of html formatting. Sorry guys!)

**REVIEW RESPONSES:**

[none this time]

Okay, so that's all I've got this time. Obviously no reviews for this chapter with it being the first, and it's highly unlikely that I will be able to respond to everyone personally. But if I think you have a good point, question or a cool username, then I'll probably answer. =]

See you in the next chapter!

Pebbles out x

PS: I've just spent 20 minutes formatting this thing here on FF's editor. How come it doesn't keep my chapter break lines in when it comes over from word? Anybody know how to rectify this? Thanks.


	2. Awakening

Pebbles: So, here we are again, at chapter 2, and what a response!! I don't think I've ever had as many story alerts and author alerts for any story in such a short time! And I am so sorry, because I completely forgot to update until now!!

I am going to try my best to update this every Friday, which gives me a week to make sure the next chapter is ready. However, if I get stuck on the planning (or I forget, lol), it may be longer, so I'll try to warn you if anything like that happens. And please remember, I am in sixth form, so I don't really have that much spare time as it is, but I really wanted to get this out of my system.

This one is a bit of a bulky, fast-paced chapter, so please don't let it overwhelm you. Next chapter will be slower. Again, links at the bottom above the review responses, and Google and Kingdom Hearts Wiki are there for any misunderstandings.

That said, I will leave you with chapter 2!! Have fun, and please leave a review!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, any of the Disney characters, places or products, or any of the Digimon characters, places or products. However, I will claim to own the concept of this story.

*****

**Awakening**

*****

King Mickey was disturbed. He was uneasy, he was restless, but most of all, he was scared. Scared mostly because the note he had just received contained word that Maleficent was back. It seems that Sora hadn't done such a good job of defeating the evil witch after all. He didn't know exactly when, and he didn't want to try and speculate as to how, but he didn't doubt that it had something to do with her faithful villainous followers and the new heartless that had been created then disappearing.

Frowning, he stood from his comfy chair in the castle's library, and decided to go for a walk. His wife, Queen Minnie – oh how she was beautiful in the golden light of the sunset that poured in through the tall library window that looked out over the castle's gardens – start to close her book and rise to walk with him, but he held out a hand, motioning for her to stay in the company of her female confidante, Daisy, who's white feathers that covered her duck-body seemed to glisten, and had he been less troubled, he would have once more told her that Donald, Daisy's wife and the court mage, was a lucky man, and she would have blushed, preened and giggled. Instead, however, he gave the two ladies a curt nod and left the library, the note crumpled in his hands.

He walked along the corridor, the news reeling in his head, rebounding off his large skull and repeating itself over and over again. He had to do something before he went insane, which didn't seem to be that far away. He paused and looked out of one of the windows that looked over the courtyard. He instantly spied Donald (who, like his wife, was also a duck with white feathers and a yellowy-orange bill, wearing his royal blue over jacket and hat) and Goofy (who looked a lot like a dog, except he walked upright, and wore his traditional attire of a green pullover with a black body warmer over the top, beige, baggy trousers and white gloves, his hat and shield lying next to him). The two were lying on the ground, eyes closed as they basked in the evening's warmth, and they seemed to be immersed in a gentle conversation that Mickey could not hear. Oh how he was tempted to go down to the garden and be lulled in a relaxing meditative-like state by the enchanted flowers, where he could forget about all the troubles of the world. But the knowledge that they would still be troubles when he came to stopped him, and instead he turned away and continued to walk the halls of Disney castle.

He walked past the kitchens, taking a deep breath of what was most likely the evening meal, and he made a passing comment to everyone in hearing range that it smelled fantastic, and he couldn't wait to eat. The kitchen staff thanked him as he left, and he continued on his way, seeing but not noticing the others around him. He meandered down the middle of each corridor, his small feet making no noise on the regal red carpet, and he only looked up when he saw a strange pattern on the now white marble floor.

He found himself in a large, square room that he hadn't entered in a long time. Each wall had a gem – three on each side wall, and two directly infront of him. All were alight with a shining, white glow that painted rainbows on every surface and King Mickey smiled, looking them all over and drinking in their happy glow. Not knowing why he had ended up there, he turned and-

Wait, he thought, turning slowly. He looked at the two on the back wall, confused. He started towards them, slowly at first, but he soon was walking as fast as he could to study the gem on the left, his brow furrowed.

"Hmm," he mused aloud, stroking his chin as a smile slowly came to his face. "That one's usually asleep." And, true to his word, the gem that was now glowing a dimmer light than the others (but glowing nonetheless) had, up until about fifteen minutes ago, been a dull, pink gem sitting on the table underneath it. Now, like the others, it was hovering at Mickey's eye level, and slowly spinning, making the rainbows it produced dance around the room, engaging in a calming waltz with the other rainbows it found. Mickey looked at the table top, upon which sat a small piece of paper with numbers written upon it in the formal font of Disney castle. No, he decided, not just numbers, co-ordinates. Carelessly dumping the note already in his hand upon the table, he picked up the co-ordinates and hurried to the large table in the centre of the room, flicking his spare hand at the door to close it. Sitting down, he quickly scribbled a note and then removed a panel of wood on the table to reveal a glass-like surface, about the size of a regular piece of paper. Placing the note face down, he replaced the wooden cover and typed the co-ordinates into the holographic number pad that appeared atop it. He waited until he saw the bright, white glow from underneath the panel fade and he then lifted it, folded the letter and stored it in a draw under the desk.

Now he waited. He could only hope that his correspondent was still alive and unaffected by the previous war with Maleficent and, moreover, able to remember how to contact him. Mickey drummed his fingers along the top of the table and rested his head on his other hand. He hated waiting. It was his least favourite activity, especially when it was important.

Finally, after what seemed like an age, there was a the sound of wind chimes and Mickey sat up straight as a holographic screen appeared infront of him, hovering still at his eye level. At first it was nothing but a blue-rimmed black rectangle, but soon a man's face faded into view. To Mickey's surprise, the man was quite young, with tanned skin, chiselled features and short brown hair. They stared at each other for a moment, and then Mickey spoke first.

"Is that really you?" he asked.

"Yes, your majesty, it is," the man replied, his voice the same as it used to be, only younger. "I've had a... Well, I suppose you could call it a facelift, really." He laughed the same laugh that Mickey was used to, and he relaxed. "Now, what's the problem? Your note sounded urgent." Mickey nodded.

"It is. Maleficent is back," He ignored the other's response and ploughed on, "and the eighth princess is close to awakening."

"The eighth... Really? Well, that's fantastic news, isn't it?" he added. Mickey frowned.

"Yes and no," he answered, "because she could just be the key to unlocking the greatest power that could either destroy Maleficent or making her invincible. Should Maleficent get to the princess first, it would be disastrous not only for the worlds under my care, but all the worlds in existence, should she learn of them." The man nodded.

"So what is the plan?"

"I need you to find the princess and bring her back into your world. I will be there as soon as I can to collect her," he answered. "She needs to train and awaken the powers inside of her and, more importantly, we still need to know if she has her keyblade. Have you noticed anything?"

"Well I have occasionally seen a glimpse or two of her old persona, but they are few and far between, and I haven't seen her in...at least two years, it must be now," he replied thoughtfully. "And I don't know how well I will be able to bring her here – I only really have the power to summon her and all the protectors, and I would need to get – hold on, wait a minute." The man looked down, confusion marring his brow as he found something he obviously hadn't expected. "It seems, your majesty, that a portal has opened between here and the Earth...by itself." He shook his head, confused. "With this new knowledge, the best plan I can suggest is for me to keep it open and you go through from here to Earth to find the princess yourself. If I'm correct, the portal opens on the other end in her city." Mickey quickly thought it over. If he flew to that world and then went through to Earth, it would mean that nobody would be able to track his ship, just in case. And, once on Earth, he could use the gem to locate her. He nodded.

"An excellent plan," he said. "Send me the co-ordinates and I shall leave right away. See you soon, old friend." The man nodded and the screen disappeared.

Quicker than a flash, Mickey rushed from his chair and grabbed the eighth gem, snatching it from the air and rushing out of the room. He vaguely realised that he had never before run anywhere, unless in a battle, but he did nothing to satisfy the curious faces of the people who saw him. He raced to his rooms and quickly took off his royal cloak, hanging it up so it wouldn't get in the way, and he quickly summoned his keyblade, staring over its majesty for a moment longer than he probably should have. He smiled down at it.

"Hello again," he said softly, lifting the keyblade above his head and smiling as his magic rushed through him. Dismissing the magical blade again, he rushed from his rooms and down to the ground floor, where he ran through the courtyard, coming to a halt infront of the reclining duo he had noticed before.

"Donald, Goofy," he said loudly. The two jerked awake and sat up, staring at him with wide eyes.

"Yes, your majesty?" Donald asked in his friendly, scratchy voice.

"I need you to pass a message on to Minnie for me," he said. "Something has come up, and I must unfortunately go off world for a while. Tell her that I have gone travelling to sort something out, and that I will be back as soon as possible."

"Gawrsh, your majesty," Goofy exclaimed, scratching his head. "This sounds mighty important. Would you like us to come with ya?" Mickey thought the offer over quickly before shaking his head.

"Not now," he said, "but when I return, I will be in need of your services again; both of you. So prepare yourselves. I will not be gone long." With that he turned and ran as fast as he could to the ship bay.

The gummi ships were a marvellous invention that allowed the passengers to travel from one world to another. Will all the different worlds under the protection of Disney castle, it was a handy way for him to get around and check everything was going swimmingly. They had also been used to transport Donald, Goofy and the kayblade master, Sora, from world to world on their adventures the last time Maleficent had tried to seize power. He only hoped the boy warrior would be strong enough and willing to fight again.

"Chip! Dale!" he called upon entering the large hanger. The two chipmunk mechanics were at his side in an instant. "I need the fastest craft you have at your disposal; it's an emergency." The two nodded at each other and shared a quick, quiet conversation before turning back to him, smiling.

"Well, it's just come back from the final field test, and who better to take it on its maiden voyage but you, your majesty?" Chip spoke. Dale nodded and the two chipmunks lead him over to a gleaming, royal blue craft that shone in the golden glow of the hanger.

"It's got the works – warp drive, secondary co-ordinates, all sorts of battle guns, just in case you run into trouble," Dale explained. "Your majesty, may we present to you _Lightspeed_." Mickey nodded, admiring the fine craftsmanship.

"You'll see it's slightly smaller than the previous crafts we've been working on," Chip continued, "but the new design makes it more streamlined, and the aerodynamics overall are to a much better standard."

"In other words," Dale added, "everything's faster, including the warp drive. And you don't have to have been there before now to warp to somewhere – if you have the co-ordinates of a new place, you can warp straight there, too."

"There are new communications features, but overall it handles just like any other ship we've produced," Chip concluded. "What do you think?"

"It's magnificent," Mickey exclaimed. "I'll take it." The chipmunks nodded and gave him a quick tour of the new features. Before he knew it, Mickey was typing in the co-ordinates and waving goodbye to Disney castle.

*****

Hikari had a spring in her step as she walked home from school that day. It was the last day of the year, meaning 6 weeks of homework-free bliss. And, more importantly, not having to worry about the jocks, preps, plastics or any other social groups. She could spend the summer anyway she wanted – her parents had transferred money into her account, so she could travel to go and see Taichi if she wanted to. She could go anywhere, so long as she was back before the start of school. Annoyed with the lack of friendships and excitement the past year had brought her, she wanted adventure. She wanted the thrill of the battle again. But, mostly, she wanted to see her old friend, Gatomon, the digimon (or digital monster) who would never betray her.

She felt something on her foot and she stopped walking to glance down. There, grinning (or so she assumed) up at her was Kurokiba, his black eyes closed happily. She smiled and went to pick him up, but he dashed off her foot and ran away, stopping about five feet down the road to look back at her. Taking the hint, she followed slowly. Like an eager puppy, he ran back to her and tugged at her skirt before dashing off again, this time a little further ahead. She nodded and started to jog after him. He nodded at her and ran slowly ahead, his body wobbling to compensate for his overly large feet.

Hikari didn't know how long she ran for, or the exact route she took, but before she was aware of her surroundings, she noticed a swirling, white portal infront of her. At first, the image through it was blank, as white as the smoke around it, but as she stepped closer, she recognised the open plains of the digital world – the dimension that held Gatomon and the other digimon. She looked down at Kurokiba and he nodded his head towards the portal before jumping through and staring back at her from the other side. Turning behind her and glancing to see if anyone was looking, she fished her D-3 out of the bottom of her bag and, with a shrug, jumped through the portal.

Hikari could tell the difference between worlds straight away. The air was cleaner here, free from the working smog of Odaiba which, despite not being too heavily populated by traffic, it was enough to make the air taste dirty. There was a gentle breeze that ruffled her hair, blowing it to the side and she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Looking down at herself, she noticed that she was still in her school uniform, the green skirt and blazer dancing in the wind, too. The long grass infront of her swayed, and she wondered just where in the digital world she was.

There was a strange noise behind her that reminded her somewhat of suction, and she turned just in time to see the portal back to Earth closing. She went to try and get it to stay open, but it closed before she could try anything. She looked down at Kurokiba and he looked back, motioning off to a hill. She followed his gesture and noticed something she hadn't seen a long time – the old-style television sets that they used to use to get back home. At least she knew she could get out of here if she wanted to.

"So I was right, you _are_ a digimon," she said, crouching down to Kurokiba's level. He didn't respond, but instead turned and started running. She laughed and chased after him, surprised at how fast he could move. Quickly, the grass became thicker and taller, until it was a good foot higher than Hikari, and she could only follow Kurokiba by trampled grass infront of her.

Soon, however, she came to a clearing, and she stopped suddenly, amazed at what she saw. There, in the middle of the field of long grass, was what looked to be a whole colony of creatures like Kurokiba. Infact, they looked to be identical, except Kurokiba seemed to be the only one with any markings. As she stared at them, Kurokiba seemed to communicate with them through stamping his feet and pointing his hands numerous times, mostly in her direction. When he was done, the other creatures nodded and looked between them, stamping their feet and then running off through the long grass, away from her. Kurokiba stayed for a moment and gestured for her to follow before following the others, and she did. She raced after the herd, finding it easier now more of them were trampling the grass infront of her, and quicker then she had found them they were out into another field. Hikari glanced behind them, confused. She'd never had any geographic anomalies like this in the other parts of the digital world, and she was shocked to find the long grass was no longer there. Confused, she started to walk back when she felt a tug at her skirt. Kurokiba took her attention and lead her to another white portal, like the one she had come through. Stepping closer, she looked at the world on the other side, confused. It looked nothing like she had ever seen, with high stone walls cast with an orange glow, somewhat like a torch-lit, medieval castle.

She stepped back, however. Something was wrong, but she couldn't place her finger on it. She glanced over to the television set atop the hill and thought about going back home. After all, she didn't _really_ want an adventure, especially not alone. She could go another summer without. She could happily stay at home and read her books and see her brother.

Kurokiba stood infront of her and tugged her skirt again, gesturing to the portal. Hikari shook her head, stepping back again.

"I'm sorry, Kurokiba, I can't," she said. "I have things I need to do back home." He cocked his head to the side and she realised she couldn't really lie to him; he knew everything that had been going on in her life recently. He knew she was resigning herself to another sunless summer indoors, and he tugged her skirt again.

"No, Kurokiba," she said strongly, taking her skirt back. "I can't. I'm sorry, really, I am, but I can't come and see a new world with you." She turned and started to make for the television set in the distance, but the other black creatures blocked her way, all standing up and walking towards her, gesturing with their arms and with their eyes for her to go through the portal. She looked back at it – if she went through, it might close like the other one had, and she might have no way of getting home again. She couldn't risk it, and so she looked for a way around the swarm of small, dark bodies.

There was a sound behind her and she turned to see a strange figure, having appeared out of seemingly nowhere. He looked around before finally facing her and, when he did, he looked relieved, but Hikari was worried.

He was about half her height, but unlike any digimon she had ever seen. His body was short, his legs and arms thin, and his head was as large as his torso, and perfectly round, like a ball, save for the strange nose. He had two large, circular ears atop his head, and she decided that he looked somewhat like a mouse, albeit the strangest mouse that she had ever seen.

"Princess, you need to come with me, quickly," he said in a high, strange voice (that under any other circumstances she would have laughed at), extended his glove-covered hand. She stared between him and the black creatures surrounding her, and when she caught Kurokiba's yellow eyes, he shook his head frantically, gesturing to the portal. Perhaps this man was evil, against Kurokiba and his kind? She stared back at the mouse-man, confused.

"Please," he begged, taking a step forwards and eyeing up the black creatures warily, "those things only want to take you to their master, who will destroy you."

"How do I know you don't want to do that?" she asked. The figure dropped his hand and seemed to search for a decent excuse.

"You don't," he finally answered. "You only have my word. Please, trust me." Kurokiba tugged at her skirt again, and this time so did many others, pulling her towards the portal. She looked at the mouse man, who was screaming no and running towards them, and all of a sudden, the black creatures tried harder to get her through the portal.

She gasped as one of them kicked her in the back of her legs, and many others pushed her roughly from behind. She struggled – she didn't want to go anywhere with anyone! Fighting back as best as she could, she struggled to get away from the hoard and make her way to the television set. No, she decided, she definitely did _not_ need an adventure this summer, and not with anyone she had met so far. She was getting closer to the portal now, and she could feel what could only be described as dark energy flowing out of it. The white, ghostly rim slowly faded through purple to black, and more little black creatures poured from within, bringing other types with them. Some were like monkeys, and they grabbed onto her wrists and tugged her forwards. Others, like pirates or Arabian swords-people, prodded her in the back with their weapons. She felt some of the swords nick her as she tried to escape and she whimpered; this was not how she wanted to start her summer.

Suddenly there was a muffled, discordant scream, and Hikari looked over to see the mouse man surrounded by a quickly-fading plume of black smoke, a weapon in his hand. It was larger than he was, and the handle was surrounded by a square, gold hand guard, the rest of the piece being silver, and the fighting end turning into what looked like a cross between a key and a crown. There was a tail-like chain off the base of the handle with a silver charm on the end, but Hikari couldn't get enough of a glimpse to see what the charm was. Instead, she went back to struggling, no longer caring about the swords at her back. They scraped her sides and pierced her flesh and her uniform, but she just wanted to get away. She turned back to the fighting man and caught his eye.

"Help me," she tried to shout, but it came out as a hoarse whisper. He seemed to hear it anyway, and he fought his way towards her, defeating the dark monkeys that held her wrists and grabbing her arm himself. He dragged her out of the fighting horde, beating back the creatures in his way. A blue-rimmed portal appeared infront of them and he let go, ushering her inside.

"Go!" he called, turning back. "Go, princess, you'll be safe there. I'll be with you shortly. Please, go!" The dark creatures were running right for her now, and she panicked. There was no way she could get to the television to get back home, so she took a deep breath and jumped through the portal.

Now she could only hope for the best.

*****

Pebbles: [Comment on the chapter]

**REFERENCE POINTS:**

Goofy:

http:// kingdomheartsguide . files . wordpress . com / 2008 / 06 / goofy . png

Donald:

http:// i49 . photobucket . com / albums / f255 / PrincessKailie / donald . jpg

Mickey:

http:// images2 . wikia . nocookie . net / kingdomhearts / images / thumb / 7 / 7a / Mickey . jpg / 200px-Mickey . jpg

(Again, sorry about the spaces guys!)

**REVIEW RESPONSES:**

**GhostKing666:** Thanks a lot for the compliment! And there will be evil digimon here – but they might not show up for a while. Oh, and the last comment? Teehee... Well I wrote the basic storyline for myself, and then wrote out the extract from the book, then read it over and thought, "Holy $%£(, that is SUCH a rip!" But I tried again and again to rewrite it, but I couldn't think a better way to put it. Sorry if it seems like too much of a rip off for you...

**BobboIsTheSex: **Thanks! Yeah, I guess you might say that Takeru is OOC, but having now grown up myself, it's kind of opened my eyes that not everybody stays the same. Me and my pre-teen group of friends used to be closer than close, but now none of us are the same. I just gathered that, despite the adventures they went through, I would have it that they not only grew up, but also grew apart. But don't worry. Tragedy redraws relationships (or something like that). ; ) Anyway, please stick with it, things will get better with the OOC, and yeah, Sora and Riku will be in it.

Thanks to **typoqueenofdoomXD** and **whatisee **for adding this story to their alerts.

Thanks to **draculakey** for adding this story to their favourites.

Pebbles: Okay, as far as I can tell, everything should be correct (like punctuation and formatting etc). If you see something amiss, please don't hesitate to let me know (politely, please, nobody likes a smart-mouth). Again, apologies for the delay on posting this. Like I said before, I intend to update every friday, but this week has been back to school, and things have been pretty manic. =]

Anyways, have a good week, and I'll see you on Friday (hopefully) for the next chapter!!

Pebz


	3. Enchanting

Pebbles: Okay, so I understand, last chapter was a bit of an information rush! But hopefully this one should be less action-packed with more time to take things in. Next chapter should be a hell of a lot calmer – it will be one of the slower chapters next, just going over stuff and adding in a couple of things.

So, how have you all been? I'm back to school now (Yay, back to the pressure of A Levels) so I can only pray that I get enough time to write the current chapters and plan the future ones. I've completed the first three in three days, so hopefully spending a little time on each on should mean I get them done for every Friday. If not, you have my sincere apologies, but A Levels do come first...

Just to let you all know, **I may not update the first Friday of February**. I go away on the Europe trip on the 29th of this month, and I don't get back until the Wednesday after (3rd). I will be globetrotting around France and Germany and England for a week to go and see all educational and political type stuff. Yay. Doesn't it just sound exciting?

*dies from overdose of sarcasm*

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, any of the Disney characters, places or products, or any of the Digimon characters, places or products. However, I will claim to own the concept of this story.

*****

**Enchanting**

*****

She stumbled as her feet hit the ground, and she quickly looked around. The gardens she ended up in were nice with beautiful trees covered in green leaves, and the grass and sky and pebble-dashed pathways were the brightest of colours, but she didn't have time to marvel at them. That mouse-man was probably only a few minutes behind her, and he may have saved her from Kurokiba and his kind, she still didn't know he could be trusted. That, and she didn't know where he had led her.

Her eyes searched for anything she could use as a weapon, scouring the floor for anything she could use. Finally, her eyes landed on a thick stick. She rushed up to it and grabbed it, quickly testing it an, finding it strong enough, she dove behind a bush not too far from the swirling portal and she waited.

Ignoring the calming birdsong from the trees and the hypnotic sound of the gentle breeze through the leaves and the grass, Hikari kept her eyes avidly on the portal, waiting. Her patience was rewarded as the mouse man appeared a few moments after. The portal closed after him. He took a few steps forwards, looking around.

"Princess?" he called, and Hikari hid lower and stiller in the bushes, waiting to strike. "Princess, where are you? Oh, I hope she got through okay." He walked forwards a few more steps and she pounced.

Diving out of the bushes, she tackled him to the ground and flipped him over, pressing the stick across his neck, noticing that his key-like weapon was nowhere to be seen. His large eyes stared back at her with a mix or surprise, yet he looked as though he had expected it.

"Okay, you," she said, in as loud and demanding a voice as she could muster, "I want to know what you think you're playing at. I want to know...uh...who you are, where you're from, and what you want with me." She hesitated when she noticed that the mouse-man seemed to be really choking. She loosened the pressure on the stick slightly, mumbling an apology. "And I...uh...I want to know all this now!" The mouse-man nodded calmly, taking in a few deep breaths before beginning to speak.

"It's a long and complicated story," he explained, "but the simplest way that I can explain it is-"

"Away from the king, you desolate harpie!" a voice called. Looking over, Hikari noticed a tall, handsome man rushing at them, his dark hair bouncing upon his handsome head. But her eyes focused instead upon the long, gleaming silver sword that he brandished before him. Instantly, Hikari backed away, dropping the stick and scrambling backwards, struggling to form any words to try and explain the situation. The mouse-man – well, mouse-king, judging by what the man had shouted – moved to his feet and stopped the man (who was at least twice his size) from going any further.

"It's fine, honestly," he explained. "It's a simple misunderstanding. I had to bring the princess here without much information, and it was only a natural reaction to try and get information any way possible." He moved towards her and extended a hand. She looked at it warily before gently taking it, and she was helped to her feet. She looked between the mouse-king and the man, the latter of whom was staring at Hikari with an expression she couldn't place. Then, as though it had dawned on him, he smoothly sheathed his sword and bowed to her.

"M'lady," he said softly.

"My lord! My lord, there you are!" Hikari looked past the man-who-was-no-longer-holding-his-sword to see a short, round man bumbling up the path towards them. He stumbled over his feet numerous times before stopping infront of them, face red and panting for breath.

"Oh, my lord, I've been looking everywhere for you," he said, breathing heavily. He bent forwards at the waist, resting his weight on his knees as he tried to regain his breath. "Your queen sends her apologies – she has had to dash home to see her parents. Some sort of emergency, she said." He stood properly and bowed to the man, who nodded.

"Perfectly understandable, Nathaniel," he said. "However, do excuse us a moment, we were just about to have some introductions, I believe." He stepped towards Hikari and bowed before her, taking her hand gently in his. "I am King Edward, it is a pleasure to meet you, Princess..." He trailed off and looked up from her hand, meeting her gaze in silence. She waited for him to finish her sentence before realising why he had stopped.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, blushing. "Hikari – my name is Hikari."

"Ah, Princess Hikari, a beautiful name for a beautiful lady." He kissed the top of her hand and stood straight. She let her hand drop back to her side, unsure of how to react to the situation.

"Actually, um, it's not 'Princess', just-"

"And King Mickey, what an honour it is to have you in my kingdom," he said, turning to the mouse-king and bowing deeply. The mouse, Mickey, nodded.

"And an honour it is to be here, King Edward," he replied.

"Nathaniel, could you please prepare two rooms in the castle for our esteemed guests?" Edward asked, turning to the other man, who was wringing his fabric hat in his hands. "Only the best will do for the king and the princess."

"Yes, your highness, of course." He bowed and turned, hurrying back the way he came; along the yellowy pebble path that lead to a pair of grand gates just visible beneath the thickly-branched trees that covered everything but the sky and a couple of modest turrets in the distance. Edward turned back to them with a bright smile, his white teeth shining in his charming face. He walked next to Hikari and gently took her by the elbow, linking her arm around his with his other hand.

"Allow me to escort you to my castle, Princess," he said, inclining his head. "Your majesty, if you would be so kind to lead the way."

"It would be my pleasure," Mickey replied, taking the lead.

They walked along the long path, starting their journey just as the large gates swung closed behind Nathaniel. Hikari was happy that she had chosen to wear her comfy trainers home from school instead of her uncomfortable school shoes. Suddenly remembering, she checked behind her for her schoolbag – it wasn't there. She must have lost it in the fight in the Digital world. She could only imagine the kind of worry her abandoned, damaged schoolbag would be for anyone that found it. But there was nothing she could do now, and so she turned her attention back to Edward, who was talking about the gardens.

"As you can see, Princess, the gardens are in full bloom at this time of year," he explained.

"Actually, it's not Princess, just Hikari will-"

"And the birds are, of course, nesting in the trees. I assure you, fair Princess, there is nothing like the sound of birdsong first thing in the morning, especially birds with voices as beautiful as those that live in these branches." He gestured up to the trees above as they walked.

"Please, just Hikari, not Princess..." But her words were drowned out by the birdsong above them, and she had to agree that it was definitely one of the most beautiful sounds she had ever heard.

He continued to talk about not only the gardens but the lands outside of the castle – the beautiful land of Andelasia, of which he was king – until they reached the gates. At that point, Hikari wasn't sure if he stopped talking or not, but she heard no more as she gazed upon the beautiful, stonewashed walls of the sunlit castle before her. It was like something out of a fairytale, and she thought for a moment that she was dreaming. But there was a painful stone in her shoe that sharply helped her realise she wasn't much better than any pinch could. Purple, triangular flags flew from the top of the turrets and towers, and ivy and greenery wound their way around the buildings. It was bigger than she could have ever imagined any building being, and she froze in awe at the sight of it.

"It's...beautiful," she finally whispered, drinking in the sight of it. Edward chuckled at her elbow.

"That it is, but I'm sure it's nothing compared to your castle back home in your kingdom of..." He stopped and looked at her, waiting for her to submit a name, but she returned his gaze with a blank look and a shrug. She turned to the King, who seemed to know more than anyone else at that point in time, and he in turn shifted, nervously.

"Perhaps we should get inside," he suggested. "I still owe Princess Hikari an explanation or two." Nodding, Edward gestured towards the castle and they started moving again, this time in silence.

*****

"Go on! Get out of here!" He shooed the final few heartless into the portal and sighed, recognising the magical signature coming from it. Something that dark could only come from Maleficent, or a combined effort of her followers. He growled in frustration, realising that the portal from Earth had resonated with the same signature, and he wondered how he hadn't seen it before.

Exhausted, Gennai rolled his wrist and created a boulder, upon which he sat, heavily. He pulled back the hood of his cream over jacket and sighed as heavily as he had sat down. He was so stupid for not realising; not only the situation with the portals, but the situation in general. He had forgotten. Having spent so long waiting for the Digidestined to arrive, he had lost sight of their true purpose, and their true identities. Had had forgotten what he was supposed to be doing, and now Hikari was out _there_, traversing the galaxies with the King and with no training whatsoever. At least, none of the kind that she needed.

He rolled his shoulders, trying to relieve some of the tension there. He had known when the duty had been given to him that he was the wrong man for the job, but he hadn't really been given any chance to refuse, and so had reluctantly taken up the mantle of mentor. Not that he deserved the title anymore. He hadn't helped the first Digidestined anywhere near as much as he should have, and when Azulongmon had picked a second team, not only to defeat the new threats but also to give Gennai another chance, he hadn't done nearly enough then, either. He was a disappointment, and it was only so long until King Mickey contacted him to relay his views.

But there had to be something he could do. He sat and he thought, and he continued to think until the sun had travelled most of its journey through the sky.

Then, it came to him. Quick as a flash, he jumped up from the boulder and let it dissipate back into data. Of course; it would be perfect. Whilst Hikari was off getting the experience she needed, he could always...

It was perfect. Grinning to himself madly, he teleported away to the hall of the gods. He had some negotiating to do.

*****

"WHAT?!"

The single word echoed down the corridors of the castle, followed swiftly by the sound of clanging metal. Furious, Maleficent raged, standing up and moving over to the metal goblet she had just thrown across the room, the little liquid left inside spilling onto the cold stone floor. She turned quickly, whipping around to face the army of disgraces that stood behind her. She walked towards them with long, angry strides, and revelled inwardly at how they cowered away from her.

"Where is my princess?" she demanded, making each word a sentence. The shadow heartless quivered before her, and one was pushed forwards to her feet.

"You!" she hissed, recognising it. "Kurokiba, she called you. She confided in you until you were more than a friend. So _where is she?_" Kurokiba shuddered, taking a step backwards. He quickly motioned to the heartless behind him, and a group of them brought forwards and object, laying it at Maleficent's feet and quickly backing away, Kurokiba going with them.

"I ask for a princess," she said slowly, voice low, "and you bring me a _schoolbag_? Get out of my sight, all of you! You're nothing but a bunch of worthless, puny, pathetic wastes! Get gone, now, before I destroy you all!" The heartless didn't need to be told twice, and they hurried away, melting into the shadows to avoid her wrath.

"You know, you really shouldn't be so harsh on them," Ursula commented form the corner, stepping forwards, her human form grotesque. Maleficent chose to ignore the comment, instead using her magic to levitate the bag onto the large, stone table in the centre of the room.

"Someone must have intervened," she hissed. "Someone must have gotten in the way. The only good plan you imbeciles have thought of, and it doesn't work." She tipped the contents of the bag onto the table, sorting through them. There were a number of books, a pair of black shoes, some sort of weird, square device with a strange-looking tail that split into two with knobbled bits on the end, and a small book that said "_Diary_" in cursive pink lettering on the front. She tossed it to Ursula.

"Read through that," she ordered. "Should you find anything we can use against her, let me know immediately. And put all this away and store it somewhere safe. It may come in handy someday." With that, she swept from the room. She needed a good killing or two to calm herself down. Or, short of that, a kidnapping.

Smirking, she ordered for an army of heartless to ready themselves for a trip to Wonderland.

*****

Lying in the large royal bed, Hikari vaguely mused at how comfortable it was. As she looked out of the window, she was only slightly aware of how beautifully the stars twinkled in the sky and how bright the large, round moon was. It was a full moon, and it cast more than enough light to illuminate her whole room. Everything was covered with a pale, blue hue.

But these thoughts swam at the back of her consciousness, beaten back by the information she had received that afternoon. It had been overwhelming at first, and then she had gone into denial, laughing (somewhat like a loon, she realised) hysterically for quite some time before calming down and staring King Mickey straight in the eyes, realising with a sense of dread that he wasn't joking.

Closing her eyes, she rolled away from the window and curled up into a ball, bringing the blankets with her. Her day had been hectic, to say the least, and it seemed that she was getting the adventure she had half-wished for. She sighed as she heard Mickey's voice in her head again, her mind replaying the scene from that afternoon.

"_You're a princess, Hikari. One of eight princesses of heart," Mickey said, as if that explained everything. Hikari looked at him, eyebrow raised._

"_You can't be serious," she answered, sitting down heavily on a plush armchair. They were sat alone in the palace library; Edward had left them a few minutes ago to go do something (Hikari hadn't been paying attention). Mickey shook his head._

"_I'm afraid not," he replied. "Not only are you a princess of heart, you are also the strongest, with the greatest amount of power residing within you." He paused. "You really don't know anything about this?" She shook her head and Mickey mumbled what might have been a curse, but Hikari couldn't hear it._

"_Do you know Gennai?" he suddenly asked. Taken aback by the sudden change of direction, Hikari froze for a moment before nodding again, dumbly. "He should have told you of this." He stared at her, his large black eyes boring into her and his expression that of a desperate man (or mouse). "You are part of a destiny much bigger than you can imagine that dates back thousands and thousands of years. This is not your first life – it is your second." Hikari sat, enraptured as he explained about the Kingdom of Light and its existence, and close friend, the Princess of Light (or Queen, as she was when the tale ended). He told her a story of a great darkness that formed to balance the Queen's light, and of how only the queen could destroy it, so she sacrificed herself and her kingdom, sending her soul into stasis until a suitable host could be found._

"_It seems," he concluded, "that you are not the Queen, or any reformation of her, but instead you carry her powers and some of her memories. You are your own person, Hikari, there is just an extra part in your subconscious that should never have been needed. But, as is the balance of light and dark, when it was sensed, the worlds' natural balance created enough darkness to counter it." Hikari sat dumbly in the chair, having forgotten for a moment or two that the story was about her. She glanced down at her hand and noticed that she was lightly shaking._

"_But what can I do?" she whispered. "If the Queen wasn't strong enough to stop them the first time, what makes you think that I can this time?" He smiled._

"_Because you have more help than she did," he replied. "You will meet them as you go, and some of them you have already met, but you have the protectors – the eight guardians of the princesses who were created when the kingdom was destroyed – and you have the keyblade bearers. You yourself are one of them." She paused, waiting for an explanation._

"_What's a...keyblade?" she prompted slowly, forming the new word carefully. Mickey stood up and she watched as he held out his right hand to the side._

_In a shimmer of sparkles and shine, the weapon from before appeared, its silver shaft and gold handle gleaming in the light. She examined it, now realising the charm on the end of the handle was a silver collection of three circles, not unlike the shape of Mickey's head._

"_This is a keyblade," he explained. "It is a weapon of extreme power, and it can be used in a number of ways. It can unlock things no other key will unlock, it can conduct the magic that every person has inside them and make it stronger and it can be used as a plain weapon, like a sword." She nodded, accepting the fairytale she was presented with._

Well_, she reasoned inwardly_, if it's a dream or hallucination, I may as well see where it's going. And if it's not, I can't exactly get out of it.

"_Where do I get a keyblade?" she asked. He chuckled and the keyblade disappeared in a shower of sparkles._

"_From your heart," he said. "The keyblade is an extension of you, its creator. No two keyblades are alike, and while they can be personalised and affected by other people, they will stay true to the characteristics of their creator. You haven't seen it yet because you haven't needed it, meaning it most likely hasn't been created yet. But when the time comes, it should all be second nature to you." _

Second nature. Right. Just like her second life. Angry, she sat up and thumped her arms down on the thick, fluffy quilt. She didn't know why she was angry, or who she was angry with. Perhaps she was angry with King Mickey for giving her the information she had wanted? Or maybe with Gennai, who – it seemed – had known of her destiny yet withheld the information from her. Maybe she was angry with herself, or with the queen who supposedly resided within her brain or her heart, she wasn't quite sure.

Hikari frowned – she needed out. She needed somewhere she could walk and clear her head. Getting out from under the bedsheets, she let the soft, satin nightgown that had been left for her fall around her knees as the warm evening air surrounded her shins. She slowly walked to the window and rested her weight upon the ledge, looking out over the moonlit gardens. There was no breeze, and the plants stood perfectly still, as though asleep, like she should have been. Sighing, Hikari knew she would be restless unless she did something, so she took the white slippers by the side of the bed, slipped them onto her feet and left the room, tiptoeing through the corridors until she found her way outside.

The door creaked slightly as she slipped out, but it made no other noise and stayed slightly ajar when she left it, meaning she could get back in. She took a deep breath of the clean air and took a few steps forwards, her feet making almost no noise at all as she walked slowly through the gardens infront of the castle. She was aware at first, just in case someone attacked the castle (after all, it was the home of royalty, and there were probably assassins everywhere), but soon she was distracted by the strange, beautiful flowers growing in the beds, their petals closed for the night. She crouched down next to one of the beds and stared at the different colours – reds, oranges, purples and pinks, as well as shades of blue and yellow and others she couldn't even begin to describe – and realised just how beautiful they were. It made her realise that, just as Mickey had said after their conversation about keyblades, she really was in another world entirely. The colours were too beautiful for anything of Earth.

A flicker of movement caught her eye and she turned, trying to locate it. It moved again within the foliage; a patch of black darker than the navy shadows it hid within. Suddenly it moved out of the bushes and started to run away, and Hikari recognised the shape instantly.

"Hey!" she hissed, standing up and running after it. "Hey, wait up!" The black creature turned to face her and, in the distance, the moonlight illuminated the white fang-like shape upon its face. She gasped.

"Kurokiba!" Kurokiba stared at her with sad, yellow eyes before shaking his head violently and running away. Hikari followed, calling again for him to wait for her, but the more she called the faster he ran. No longer did he have the eager, puppy-like energy he had had when leading her to the digital world, now there was more of a sense of urgency about the way he ran.

Remembering the situation in the digital world, Hikari rushed after him faster. She wanted an explanation. She wasn't exactly sure how she would get it when Kurokiba couldn't talk, but she was sure she could figure it out somehow.

Running around a corner, she suddenly halted, and instantly regretted not running back inside. Infront of her were many more of the creatures like Kurokiba, but less than there had been in the digital world. She took a few hasty steps backwards and the creatures approached, matching her pace for pace.

Then, without warning, they attacked. Not knowing what else to do, Hikari screamed and covered her head, crouching down so those that jumped to attack her head and shoulders sailed over her, crashing into the wall behind her. But that didn't solve the problem of the ones that rushed at her from the ground, clawing at her legs and attacking her any way they could.

It took a moment or two, but Hikari soon felt an anger welling up within her as the creatures continued to attack. She turned and fled as best she could, jumping over heartless and running around them in an attempt to get back to the castle. The anger surged within her, and she realised; twice now, Kurokiba had led her to his companions, and twice now they had attacked her. Kurokiba had betrayed her, despite the friendship they had had, and it hurt.

Her right hand began to tingle slightly, and she vaguely noticed that her slippers had come off somewhere. She didn't realise just how far she had followed Kurokiba! The palace doors were nowhere in sight, but she kept on running, hoping she was heading in the right direction. Her right hand tingled more, not becoming more of an itch, but she had not time to stop and scratch it.

She ran and ran, her bare feet slapping against the smooth pathways. She was silently thankful that they were not running through the outer gardens of the palace where she had appeared, as the pathways would probably have been too painful.

Coming up to a wall of the creatures, Hikari quickly turned and dashed along another pathway. Soon she found herself in the courtyard behind the palace that lead to the back entrance, and she tried to speed up and get there faster, but the black creatures ran across the grass, blocking her way. She turned to go back the way she came, but that way was blocked as well. The creatures circled her, slowly closing in; there was no way to escape.

She flexed the fingers of her tingling hand, and suddenly it felt heavy, like she was holding something. A flash of something caught her eye, and she looked down at it, ignoring the way the creatures suddenly took a few steps backwards.

A...thing had appeared in her hands, and it was beautiful. Made mostly of silver, it had a long, silver shaft with an ornate, jewel encrusted handle that surrounded her whole hand. It was shaped somewhat like an asymmetrical teardrop, with the side at the top being taller with elongated diamond shaped pink glass segments. The same diamond shape was at the bottom of the thing, and, almost like a key, the shapes formed to look like half of her crest of light, the glass segments surrounded by silver metal about an inch wide from the outside of the gems, keeping them in place. There was a charm as well that hung off the end, a pink glass shard surrounded by silver, just like the far end. Hikari stopped her examination to realise that it was a keyblade – _her_ keyblade.

Not knowing why, she turned and struck out with the keyblade. As she froze, having completed the move, she noticed a plume of black smoke where the blade had struck something. As though this was a cue for the rest, the other creatures rushed towards her, waving their arms and coming in for another attack, but Hikari felt a strange sense of calm with her, and she did nothing but listen to the blade, realising it was almost as though the blade was talking to her through her heart.

She moved with the keyblade, letting it lead her body in a wild, destructive dance with the creatures, each one of them disappearing with between one and three hits of the blade. As soon as it destroyed one, another would feel the blade's wrath, then another and another.

"Fire!" She heard Mickey's voice before she saw him, but she saw the large fireballs first. They destroyed about ten of the creatures at once and Mickey soon joined her, fighting with his own blade. A few seconds behind him was Edward, who cut through the creatures with his silver sword. Mickey repeatedly called out "Fire!" as well as other calls such as "Blizzard!" and "Thunder!", the latter two producing a mass of icicles and a burst of lightning respectively, both attacks striking the creatures and destroying them.

The fighting slowly moved Hikari away from the others, and she attacked the creatures with a vigour she didn't know she possessed. A part of her thought it might have been the Queen, or at least her memories, that gave Hikari the knowledge to fight. In fact, she wondered what would happen when she...

"Fire!" she called, pointing the keyblade at an oncoming mass of creatures. A small fireball emerged from the tip of the keyblade and went straight for the creatures. It destroyed about five, but the rest kept coming.

"Thunder!" she shouted, keeping her blade steady. The lightning came from the sky and struck them, making them writhe on the ground before they disappeared. That attack killed almost all of the ones around her, leaving only two or three. She quickly sliced through them, noticing that Edward and Mickey still had quite a few to defeat. Standing strong, she pointed the keyblade in their direction and, with all her might, shouted, "BLIZZARD!"

Unlike Mickey's attack, she created not only icicles but also large hailstones which rained down upon the creatures and crushed them. She smiled as she watched Mickey and Edward defeat the last few creatures, but the smile disappeared as she suddenly felt lightheaded, as though she hadn't eaten or drank in a long while. Rushing towards a tree, she leant heavily against it, the keyblade still in her hand.

Everything seemed slow as her knees buckled and hit the floor, and she collapsed forwards, her arms lying out to the side. She caught a glimpse of the disappearing keyblade behind its sparkle of showers, and then all was peaceful, calm and black.

*****

Pebbles: Ooh, what's going to happen? The suspense is killing me!

[...]

Okay, no it's not, but that was my feeble attempt at a semi-cliffhanger. Not quite enough to be scared about, but enough to leave you wanting more (hopefully). Sorry if you think it's moving a bit fast, but there's a hell of a lot to cover and I don't want to have too many chapters. I'm hoping to have it done between 30 and 40 chapters, what do you reckon? Too many? Too few? Should I just not care and just write it, letting be as long as it ends up being?

And yeah, I had something else I was going to put in here, but it just got so long,

**REFERENCE POINTS:**

I don't think I need to reference anything. Oh, yes, Andalasia is from _Enchanted_; for those of you who don't know, Kingdom Hearts is a game set throughout the various Disney worlds, so even some of those that don't appear in KH1 or KH2 will be showing up. And as for the Digital World, well...that'll be explained later. =]

**REVIEW RESPONSES:**

**dracula-key**: Oh thank you! And I will – I really do intend to have this story finished. I'm trying not to, but I've already started planning a sequel!

**GhostKing666**: Yeah, it's a plot hole I saw through quite quickly, and if I get time I may go back and re-write it. The angle I was going for should hopefully be explained someway along the lines. I was going to leave it and cross my fingers like a naughty-little-author, but you're the third person to point it out to me, not counting the voices in my head, so... Three strikes and you're out, I guess... Like I said – fingers crossed for every Friday!

Thanks to **ilovecakes**, **EmmettLover2**, **Chibiusa **and for adding this story to their Favourite stories list.

Thanks to for adding this story to their Alert list.

Pebbles: Well hopefully this will update. My computer is being slow for some reason, but who knows. *Fingers crossed*

Well, it's Friday, and I'm updating again! So far, so good! Then again, it _is_ only chapter 3...

Omg, lol! I'm watching Cinderella 3, and some of the lines in it are amazing:

"_But the talking mice say that she's the wrong girl!"_

And then, the best conversation ever:

"_Dad, trust me."_

"_I do trust you! It's the talking mice I don't trust!"_

I can't decide which is funnier! But, that being said, I will leave you for now and return to you with chapter three. Remember, I probably won't update on Friday 30th of Jan, so apologies in advance. Bye for now!


	4. Evil Interludes

Pebbles: Okay, I sincerely apologise for the situation I'm about to explain.

**P L E A S E - R E A D - T H I S - N O T I C E ! ! !**

As you may notice by the size of the scroller bar at the side of your screen, this is a very short chapter, especially when compared to my previous ones. This is because of a number of reasons:

1. My laptop charger died on Tuesday, and subsequently so did the laptop. I tried to keep it going for as long as possible, but it wasn't long enough, and I couldn't get a copy of the chapter (or my homework) off before it completely died. And when I say the CHARGER died, I mean it!

2. With the lack of a charger, I didn't want to stop writing, so I hand-wrote most of the chapter (which quite obviously took longer than typing).

3. When I finally got a charger that works (yesterday evening), I had lost the folder. Yes, that's right, I had misplaced my school (and fanfiction) folder. And seeing as it proudly displayed my name and nobody knows I write fanfiction, I was frantically searching for it. This was Thursday (yesterday). I was NOT happy.

4. I've been bogged down my art coursework and everything else for every subject, so although I planned to quickly write and post this on Friday, my weekend was hectic. I did not get this done and now, Monday, I'm coming back to it to give you a little something before I go away and leave you.

So this is not really a chapter-chapter, if you get me. But it is a little something I wanted to put into the last chapter, but didn't manage to squeeze in – it was long enough as it was! Think of it as chapter 3.5 =]

So here it is, Evil Interludes, and you can get a quick glimpse of what's going on elsewhere.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, any of the Disney characters, places or products, or any of the Digimon characters, places or products. However, I will claim to own the concept of this story.

*****

**Evil Interludes**

*****

Maleficent sat on her stone throne, face pensive. She was eagerly awaiting the return of the small army she sent to the new world – the Digital World – and, hopefully, the eighth princess.

How she could have overlooked her was a mystery. Looking back through the history books in what was left of the ruined library, she had come across many a mention of the mysterious wielder of light. Every appearance described her as loving, kind and – most importantly – extremely powerful. Her eyes narrowed as she recalculated just how powerful this young woman was going to be. She could imagine her newfound enemy being tall and imposing, yet at the same time, why should be any different to the other princesses of heart? She was most likely dainty and delicate, like Snow White or graceful and beautiful like Cinderella. But then again, there was the seventh princess – Kairi. She had been bold and confident, ready to fight at all costs to reclaim her freedom. It had taken a strong spell to keep Kairi asleep as Maleficent searched for her heart, and she had nearly broken it several times. Perhaps the eighth princess would have a stronger will that the seventh?

She heard an army of gentle padding rushing towards her from down the corridor. Smiling, she sat straighter, preparing herself to meet her newest _guest_. The door creaked open and Maleficent resisted the urge to stand – better for the girl to underestimate her and later be put in her place.

The heartless rushed in, yellow eyes downcast, and she instantly knew something was wrong. They crowded on the other side of the large stone table, and the door closed behind the final creeping heartless. Maleficent scanned them over, quickly taking in each and every detail of the returned group. Their numbers were lower without being too significant, but there was something more important missing.

The princess.

Standing slowly, she made her way towards the table and glared at each and everyone one of the heartless that cowered before her.

"Where is she?" she hissed. They shuffled backwards away from her here and she growled. "WHERE IS SHE?!" She felt her magic crackle around her and she enjoyed it for a moment too long before reigning in her powers and calming down. She cast her eyes over her dark minions once more.

"Where is the one she called Kurokiba?" Slowly the heartless parted until a single shadow stepped forwards. He was timid, and he kept his eyes down towards the ground. She would soon change that.

"Look at me," she ordered in a hiss. The heartless slowly looked into her eyes and she smirked; such a pitiful little creature.

Summoning her staff, which materialised in her hand from a cloud of swirling, black smoke, she slammed the base down on the ground and watched as a bolt of green lightning darted across the floor, attacking the heartless the princess had decided to name. Kurokiba – what a ridiculous name. Maybe this princess wasn't so strong after all, if she was going around naming heartless.

The heartless stared back at her with pity in it's yellow eyes, and she almost scoffed.

"Well you'd better have brought me something," she said, calmer now that she had used some of her rage. Turning her back on them, she returned to her throne, listening to the frantic patting of the heartless' large, black feet on the ground as they scurried around behind her. She turned and sat. The heartless had rearranged themselves and three were slowly moving towards her, carrying a strange looking satchel. It was mostly beige, with a small emblem on the bottom left corner of the fold over flap. She picked up their offering and noticed that it felt quite heavy. Surely a princess wouldn't be carrying all this weight by herself? Perhaps she had some sort of royal guard carrying it for her. Judging by their offering, perhaps the heartless hadn't been so useful after all. But still...

"Get out!" she ordered, thrusting a pointed finger towards the door. The heartless eagerly obeyed, scurrying out of the room and closing the large, ornate doors behind them. Maleficent looked the bag over once more before scoffing and tipping the contents onto the table. Perhaps she could find something that would give her an insight into the princesses life.

She was heartily disappointed. There were a number of books, a plastic pouch filled with pens and pencils, a strange, rectangular object with numbered buttons and a dimly glowing square and a pair of smart, black shoes. Whoever this princess was, she seemed to like barefoot.

Frowning, Maleficent took a step closer and started to look at the books. They might have something interesting. All of the books covered in a clear, shiny coating had strange words in large letters like "_Calculus_" and "_Psychology_" amongst other more familiar words like "_History_". Then there were a number of books that were smaller and not as shiny – these all bore the words "_Yagami, Hikari_" at the top. She stared at the repeating words, noting the delicate, cursive handwriting.

She heard movement behind her, and she didn't have to turn around to see who it was. The too-heavy, arrogant clacking of heels against the cold stone floor and the "swoosh" of the heavy black dress let her know exactly who was approaching.

"Ursula," she said quietly. She glanced up to see the sea with smiling at her. Ursula curtsied hideously. "I have a task for you. These items were taken from the princess – sort through them and see what you find. Anything of even the slightest relevance will do; you never know what secrets might be hidden in these texts."

"It would be my pleasure," Ursula crooned, and Maleficent did her best to not react to the hideousness of the overly-sweet voice issuing from the revolting, blue face. Ursula waddled forward and scooped the objects back into the bag. Maleficent turned away and left the room; she needed to peruse the castle and her thoughts for a while.

*****

Pebbles: Yes, I am well aware that this is a feeble attempt to shove something together, but I didn't want to leave you without anything as though I had forgotten/abandoned yet another story! Especially considering I **WILL NOT BE UPDATING THIS COMING FRIDAY!!**

In fact, **a quick note about updates:**

When I'm away on the Europe trip for school, we'll be doing a lot of travelling, meaning a lot of long, arduous coach rides, which means a lot of time for me to write fanfictions! Yay! The only down point to this is that I'm not taking my laptop with me, so I will be hand-writing the chapters. Not only will this take me slightly longer, but it will also mean that I will have to type everything up when I get back, too. So my sincerest apologies if I don't update the Friday after I get back – it's because I will be getting over Europe and typing everything up nice and neatly.

So that's it from me until I get back from my globe trotting adventure! I hope you enjoyed this (rather short, no-real-plot-significance(-yet), boneheaded-author's-way-of-trying-to-keep-people's-faith in her) chapter, and I'll see you in the real chapter 4!

**REFERENCE POINTS:**

None for this chapter!

**REVIEW RESPONSES:**

**Dracula-key:** thanks, and I'm glad you think so. Things should start becoming more adventurous in a couple of chapters, and I'm soon to be adding in the Digidestined and more from the Land That Never Was... =]

Thanks to **thedigitalrailroadrunner** for adding this story to their alert list!

Pebbles: And now a little note for those who skip the ANs: 

**Please make sure you've read the author's note in this chapter, they contain important information!**


	5. Dressing Up

Pebbles: I am so, so, so, so very sorry for the delay! It's been weeks since I've updated, I know, and I am so sorry! First it was the Europe trip, then it was catching up on all the classes I'd missed, and then I was really ill with a really bad head and chest cold, and then I've had a tumultuous amount of coursework to do and my bike's broken down and I've recently been offered a new job which I would need my bike for and...

In other words, it's been hectic. Can you ever forgive me?

Europe was all right. Can't say it was fantastic – it was mostly either politics or backstabbing. Fun. The hotels were either too hot or too cold, the bathrooms were miniscule (except the one in Brussels) and it was FREEZING! I'm usually cold all the time anyway, and that just made it worse! On our first night in Brussels, it was -1˚C! Then in Paris -3! But I survived, got home, and was never happier to be back on this rock. I managed to read pretty much the entire Twilight series on the trip! Had to buy the fourth book in London because I finished the other three. Got halfway through it before I got home. And I thought I was a slow reader...

But this does mean that I was reading all the time, and did no writing. I know, I know, this is terrible of me, especially after I said I would. But Twilight is so addictive! Okay, some of the characters are a little _too_ flawless, and maybe it has spawned a lot of hate-mail, hate-groups and hate-in-general, but I really enjoyed it!

ANYWAY, continuing on before I rant and rave about life, the universe and porridge, here's the fourth chapter. Once again, you have my sincerest apologies for the mishap with the last chapter, and the delay on this one.

Oh, and yeah, **SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT! **[Concerning the movie Enchanted]

Don't say I didn't warn you!

(There will also be plenty more spoilers in the rest of the storyline, as most of my plans involve coming in after most of the stories are finished.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, any of the Disney characters, places or products, or any of the Digimon characters, places or products. However, I will claim to own the concept of this story.

*****

**Dressing Up**

*****

She groaned as she felt herself wake up. Her head hurt immensely and her body felt heavier than ever. She couldn't remember feeling this bad since the last time she had had the flu, although that almost felt like a common cold next to her current symptoms. She was also hungry. Very hungry, judging by the loud, angry rumble of her stomach. She placed a hand on her midriff to calm it and slowly sat up, wincing slightly at how bright the light was. She ignored it and, spying her clothes on the chair by the dresser, swung her legs over the bed and stood up.

She regretted it instantly and swayed for a moment before collapsing back onto the bed again. She moved her hand from her stomach to her head and closed her eyes gently. She hadn't realised that she had a headache, and now it seemed to be attacking her with a vengeance.

"Ah, you're awake." Mickey's voice seemed louder today than usual, but that was most likely because of the headache. She opened her eyes and looked up, noticing him standing in the doorway with a young woman. She was tall with pale skin, beautifully-sculpted cheekbones and dark, flowing hair that fell in waves to her shoulders. She wore a broad smile upon her face as she held in her slender hands a tray with a bowl containing soup and a glass of water. Looking at the tray, Hikari noticed that the woman was wearing a stunning dress that was all yellow except for the sky blue ribbon underneath her bust line.

"It's good to see that you're feeling better," the woman said. "We were so worried when you collapsed." She walked over and set the tray down on the small table next to the bed.

"It's just chicken soup and plain water," she said. "The chef cooked a marvellous breakfast this morning, but you weren't awake and I don't think your stomach would have handled it." Hikari nodded in understanding and the woman smiled at her.

"I'm Nancy, by the way, Edward's wife," she explained. "King Mickey's explained all about you – being a princess and all – and I was wondering if you would like to come with us today – both of you, actually. We're going to New York to visit Giselle and Robert; are you interested?"

"I unfortunately have some things I need to take care of," Mickey apologised, "but Hikari, would you like to go?" She took the fact that Mickey was suggesting it as a good sign and, not trusting her voice to speak, she nodded.

"Great! Well I will go and tell Edward, and you come meet us in the entrance hall when you're dressed and ready. Lord knows Edward can't dress himself for Earth." She giggled as she walked out, closing the door gently behind her. Silence reigned in the room and Hikari turned to stare at Mickey, who looked back apologetically.

"It seems that you remember more than you realise," Mickey said, moving to sit next to her on the bed. "Eat up, eat up, you need to get your strength back as soon as possible." Hikari nodded and shifted herself so she was sitting up in the bed on top of the covers, her back resting against the headboard. She took the tray into her lap and started to eat – the chicken soup was delicious.

"Now...how can I explain this?" Hikari drank more soup and watched him think for a moment. He looked at her.

"Inside everyone there is an amount of magic," he said, "and we're not sure how the balance is determined, but within the bearers of the keyblade and the princesses of heart, there is more magic than normal – quite a bit more. You happen to be both, and so you, naturally, have more magic than almost everyone else. Last night, you managed to tap into your magical resources, and you cast quite a few strong spells. Don't worry, there's nothing to be worried about, I just want to give you a warning I should have given you before. I didn't think that you would tap into your magic this quickly.

'When a person uses magic, it takes its toll on their health, too. Use too much magic, and the body's defence system is to shut the body down, and the person will go to sleep, ending up feeling pretty rough the next morning, as I suppose you are feeling now." She nodded – that would explain a lot. "But the warning I will give you is this – should a person try and do too much magic and, for some reason, the body cannot shut itself down, the magic used will eventually kill them." She almost choked on her soup as the words came from his mouth. She could have died last night?

"It was quite an impressive array of spells that you cast last night," he said. "Can you remember any of them?" Hikari set the spoon down in the bowl and thought. She didn't remember much about the night before.

"I remember...fire..." she said slowly, thinking back, "and thunder. And...there was one...blizzard, that was it. There weren't any more, were there?" Mickey shook his head.

"You remembered well," he said. "Yes; fire, thunder and blizzard. Remember them – they will come in handy later on." He paused, looking down at his large, white-gloved hands.

"Although it's lucky you did, why did you go out last night?" he asked quietly. "You probably saved the lives of everyone in the castle, but there has to be a reason you left." He looked back up at her and she squirmed uncomfortably. What had she been doing? She looked out of the window and it came rushing back to her.

"I saw Kurokiba," she said softly. "He was in the gardens, and he looked...lost."

"Kurokiba?" Mickey asked.

"Yes," she replied, looking back at him. "He's one of those...creatures. He found me a while ago, and he's been with me ever since. But then he...well, he betrayed me, I guess..." She looked down at her bowl of steaming soup, feeling her eyes stinging with tears.

"Ah, the heartless," Mickey said softly. Hikari jerked her head upwards to look at him.

"Heartless?" she asked.

"Yes, the heartless," he repeated. "There are creatures in this world whose only purpose is to serve the darkness – the heartless, in all their different shapes and forms, are a certain...breed of these creatures. There are many theories as to why they exist and what might be, but I'll tell you what they are." He leant in slightly, his eyes narrowed and his face serious. "They are _not_ to be trusted."

"But Kurokiba was a friend to me," she said softly. Mickey leant back, nodding slowly.

"Yes, I understand that, but you must understand that you have been dragged into a war with good versus evil, and light against the darkness. The darkness has been beaten back once, but now we need to do it again."

He stood up and walked towards the door, stopping and turning around to face her.

"Eat up, and get dressed," he said. "I think going to Earth may be just what you need. And don't worry about the war, it's not begun yet." That stated, he smiled before turning on his heel and leaving the room, closing the ornate door behind him.

There was a pause as Hikari ran the conversation through in her head, and then she sat quietly as she finished her soup. She sighed, blowing on the hot soup, as she felt her stomach churn with a realisation that sent a shudder through her body; she could have died last night. She could have killed herself, and moreover if she had died, who would tell her family? Her friends?

Friends. The word brought her to think of Kurokiba. She couldn't believe that he and his kind were evil. Well, his kind, maybe, but he had been so caring towards her. Always doing things to make her smile and always listening when she needed to spill the secrets the held within her heart...

Oh no. Her spoon clattered into her bowl with a loud clatter. He had been listening and watching her every move... Knowing her luck, his silent act was only a trick, and whenever he wasn't with her, he was reporting everything to the "bad guys" (whoever he, she or they happened to be). He had seen her highs and her lows. The enemy probably knew more about her than she did.

But she had been so desperate for a friend; someone to talk to. She had been standing in the park surrounded by blankets and picnic blankets and waiting – she had been for over an hour. It was the annual anniversary of the defeat of Malomyotismon, and as usual she had taken it upon herself to organise the reunion. But nobody had turned up. It was to be expected really. As the previous years had gone by, the reunions had gotten smaller and smaller as more people found excuses not to go, but it had been the first time nobody had come.

Then he had arrived; the small, black body with bright yellow eyes sat in the tree, looking down from the branches. They had stared at each other for a while before he had dropped down to the base of the tree and slowly approached her. He has been so timid, flinching backwards whenever she moved. She had slowly held out food for him, but he threw it away and studied her hand instead. He had been so nervous that she had melted inside instantly. After a few moments of silence, he had gestured around to the picnic baskets and blankets, and she had timidly started explaining, worried she was going insane, but as he reacted and seemed to listen in intrigued silence, the conversation had turned into a full-blown rant about her 'friends'. When she was done, his yellow eyes had stared at her intentl for a moment before he crawled into her lap and comforted her like a friendly cat. Before she knew it, he was following her home and she was giving him a name...

Silently fuming at her own stupidity, she placed the tray on the bedside table and angrily tore back the bed covers. The sweet little act of his was mostly likely just that – an act; a false person to induce her to spill her deepest and darkest secrets. As she thought over their one-sided conversations, she realised just how much dancer she probably put her friends in (after all, a few broken promises and forgotten dates were nothing to stop being friends over, right?), and she noted that he probably knew she was a princess the whole time. She quickly put on her uniform, which was folded on a stool infront of the dresser, and brushed her hair. She didn't check her reflection in the mirror before she walked out of her room. She probably should have made the bed before leaving, or at least brought the tray of food. Even a nice thank you note would have been nice compared to the angry mess she left the room in. She would never have left her bedroom in that state. Taking a bobble out of the hidden pocket of her skirt, she sighed. There was nothing she could do now, she mused, tying her hair into a ponytail. She was expected in the main hall.

After about ten minutes or aimlessly wandering corridors, Hikari admitted that she had no idea where the main hall was, and it was doubtful with her sense of direction that she would be able to find it by herself. Seeing nobody in the corridor, she took the first door outside in the hopes of finding someone who would know the grounds, like a gardener or gatekeeper, and her heart skipped a painful beat at the sight that greeted her.

Whilst yesterday the gardens had been immaculate with their difference colours, now they were a mess. There were clumps of grass, soil and dead flowers everywhere, and the whitewashed walls were covered in dirt, scorch marks and – oh gods, was that blood? More people than Hikari could have imagined were busying around the gardens, hurriedly repairing the damage and replanting flowers. There was so much commotion and noise, it was unreal, and her appearance hadn't been noticed. Venturing forwards slowly, she tried to get someone's attention to ask for directions, but they were all so busy, she didn't know who to approach.

"Coming through!" a gruff voice called. Startled, Hikari jumped back out of the way. Her foot, unfortunately, found something slippery, and she fell sideways. A pair of short but secure arms wrapped around her, keeping her upright.

"Careful there, m'lady," a familiar voice softly said. She was guided back to her feet, and then the arms were gone. Turning, she saw Nathaniel, who hurriedly removed his brown fabric cap and bowed to her. After a moment, he straightened, replaced his lopsided cap and dusted himself down.

"I hope you'll excuse the bold action, m'lady," he apologised, "but we can't have you hurting yourself. King Edward would have my head if there was but a scratch upon you."

"It's fine," she replied. "And, er, thanks. I must have lost my footing or something." She glanced down, expecting to see a small hole in the ground or some mud, but instead she saw a small pool of what appeared to be-

"Ice?"

"Yes, m'lady," Nathaniel answered, "left over from the fight last night. Your magic is quite powerful to say the least, if you don't mind me saying." She stared away from him, back to the destroyed gardens.

"I did all this?" she whispered, staring. She couldnt' believe she could be responsible for so much damage. She would need to offer some sort of funding towards the repair, but even ten percent of the price must be a fortune. She would never be able to afford it. The scorched walls and upturned flower beds grimly whispered what they had seen of the battle, and the visibly-stressed servants were repairing the result of the carelessness. Kurokiba's face flashing in her mind for a moment before she shook it, and the accompanying anger, from her thoughts, realising dimly that Nathaniel was talking, and she was being rude.

"...but it's okay, it's all easily repairably. The little escapade last night almost woke the whole castle. Kind Edward was instantly rushing for his sword, so Lady Nancy tells me."

"Ah, Nathaniel, and Hikari! What a pleasant coincidence!" The two turned to see Edward and Nancy walking towards them. It had been Edward who had spoken, though now he was picking at his clothes. He looked quite unusual (and uncomfortable) in his denim jeans, plain t-shirt, black jacket and trainers, whilst Nancy looked happy to be wearing a blouse, jeans and a pair of low heels. Nancy smiled at them.

"We were just coming to look for you, Hikari," she explained. "We need to get going it we want to have at least some time with Giselle and Robert. At least now we know you're not lost in the castle somewhere. I suppose it's our own fault, really. We should have explained how to get to the meeting point, but I suppose that's neither here nor there now that we've found you." Hikari nodded.

"Well, lead the way," she replied, smiling. Edward was pulled away from his obvious fascination with the zipper on his jacket and took Nancy's arm. After bidding Nathaniel farewell, Hikari followed the royals.

She scoffed slightly at the idea. Only yesterday, she had been a schoolgirl worried about algebra, good grades and how much homework she had over the holidays, and now she was cavorting with royalty! Heck, she was royalty! A princess! Nobody would believe her when she finally found her way home.

Home...

She would need to find a way of contacting her family and telling them she was okay. Her parents were probably worried sick, and they would have contacted Taichi, who probably organised a search party for her; a natural response from her overprotective brother.

Coming back to her senses, she realised that their small entourage had come to a stop infront of a beautifully carved fountain-like well made of stone. Water poured from a wonderful crafted faucet about fifteen feet about the ground, and from there it fanned out and gracefully fell into the circular bottom, reminiscent of a typical stone well, with a perfectly circular stone wall surrounding it, a small gap in the front. She stared at it for a moment or two before realising that she couldn't hear the water hitting the bottom.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Nancy asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. Hikari nodded. "This is the portal to the other world. I know it looks terrifying, but don't be afraid."

"This is the portal?" Hikari asked dubiously, tearing her eyes away. Nancy nodded. "What, do we jump down into it or something?" Nancy nodded again with a smile, and Hikari took a moment to realise that she was serious. Her stomach clenched around the butterflies it contained and she took a step closer to the well, holding onto the wall as she leant over.

"But it's...it's so..." She couldn't describe it. Jumping into the well was a reckless, dangerous act that words couldn't begin to form for. Nancy giggled a little and patted Hikari's shoulder gently.

"You'll forgive me, but I am sorry about this," she said. Confused, Hikari turned and opened her mouth to ask, only to find that she was already falling backwards. A shriek escaped her lips and she stretched her arms fowards, hoping to catch something, but soon she was shrouded in darkness, and the sound of the rushing water filled her ears. She didn't realise that she was still screaming – it didn't register – but what she did recognise was the large, glowing...thing coming to catch her, and it didn't look welcoming. It was like a mini-galaxy, a swirling oval of glittering parts that stared coldly back at her, coming ever closer.

She closed her eyes, saying a mental goodbye to her friends and family and-

She shivered. She was cold, like she had just dived into a pool of cold water, but she wasn't wet. She opened her eyes and noticed that the majority of the swirling glitter was now hovering above her, although some shimmering stars swirled around her, gradually coming closer. Managing to make her way upright as she swam in what felt like air, she reached out and touched a piece of glitter. It sent a gentle spark of electricity down her finger and up her arm, and she giggled. Another piece brushed against her other shoulder, and she glanced at it, noticing that both pieces had left shimmering circles where they had landed.

Another piece touched her back and another snuck under her uniform to land on her stomach. Another landed on her thigh and others on her socks, calves, arms and a few on her face.

Then, like a shining barrage, all the pieces rushed towards her, as though clamouring to touch any piece of her skin that it could. She clamped her mouth and eyes shut as she fought against them. What had before been a small tingle now escalated to full-blown electric pulses as many pieces landed at the same time. She let out a little scream as each one hit, struggling and trying to swim away as much as she could, but she moved nowhere. Her screams were echoed back to her, and it scared her even more. Was this death? No, she couldn't afford to be so melodramatic. She doubted that she had been tricked this whole time (although with every piece of shocking glitter that found her, the theory was more and more believable), and Nancy had apologised before pushing her, there had to be a reason to all this.

She was suddenly aware that the pieces had stopped attacking her. Her skin tingled slightly, but that was it. It was almost like the calm before the storm, but this time the storm came first.

She regretted the thought instantly, as suddenly she felt like she was flying. But not in the "good" way, like in dreams where you glide above cities, this was more like a rollercoaster, she decided, as she was propelled through the air and thrown around. She could see nothing but bright, white lights as her breath was ripped from her lungs and her uniform was whipped around her. Her hair smashed into her face, going into her eyes and mouth. She tried to cough it out, and she was so focused on the problems with her hair that she almost didn't notice that she hit something solid.

Almost.

There was a pain in her palms and her torso as they made contact with something. She winced and coughed as the final bit of air was pushed from her lungs. She took a deep breath and coughed a few times before she could get back to normal. She rolled onto her back and opened her eyes, staring upwards. It was dark, with only small spots of light on the not-so-distant ceiling. She felt weird – her skin still tingled, but in a different, indescribable way. She glanced at her hands, noticing in the dim light that they looked strange, almost like they had too much detail. There were lines on her palms and fingers she'd never seen before, and on her wrists, and on her whole body, really. She flicked a piece of hair out of her face and was surprised when it fell right back where it was. It had never done that before. Carefully she picked it up and flattened it over the back of her head. Her hair felt weird, or maybe that was just because her hands still tingled.

"Watch out below!" Edward's call was followed by a laugh, and Hikari noticed two bright lights, like comets, zooming towards her. She scrambled to her feet and quickly dove out of the way, watching as the lights crashed into the ground and exploded in a cloud of glitter, leaving behind Edward and Nancy, who too looked slightly different. Pieces of glitter still stuck to their hair and clothes as they stood and dusted themselves off, both laughing lightly.

"Sorry about that, Hikari," Nancy apologised again, "but if you're anything like me, you wouldn't have done it on your own." Hikari thought about it for a moment before agreeing with her.

"Now we have a little way to go before we meet with Robert and Giselle, but it should only take a few minutes," Edward explained, "so let's get going, shall we?" Nancy nodded and, to Hikari's surprise, jumped upwards. However, instead of landing back on the floor, she turned in midair and landed with her feet on the ceiling. Hikari gawked at her, knowing it was rude to stare but too confused to look away. Then Edward did it too, and Hikari became even more confused. Just where were they?

"Just close your eyes and jump," Edward said, his upside-down head almost level with hers. "We'll explain everything when you're with us." Hikari nodded and, taking a deep breath she closed her eyes, clenched her fists and jumped. When she landed, she half-expected to open her eyes and still see Edward and Nancy upside down – it had felt like just a normal jump. But when she did open her eyes, she saw that she too was upside down, not that you could tell from the way the area was sculpted. Either of the surfaces could have easily been the floor or ceiling.

"Come on, it's this way." Edward then turned on his heel and started to lead the way. Nancy followed and Hikari quickly jumped to be in step with her.

"Confused yet?" she asked. Hikari nodded.

"Very," she replied. Nancy giggled again, a habit she seemed to be fond of.

"We're now on Earth," Nancy explained, "and don't worry, the tingling should wear off after about half an hour. Nobody knows why, but when we first get here, we're always upside down, and gravity doesn't seem to realise it. Only after we completely leave the surface we land on do we conform to the normal rules of gravity. Right now, we're the right way up.

"You have to remember, though, this isn't your Earth," she continued. "This is like a parallel universe. According to King Mickey, there are quite a few of them hanging around. We're in New York right now. More specifically, this is an old abandoned pipeline. If we had just gone straight up through the grate, we would have come out right in the middle of a busy junction. At least this way, we can come and go inconspicuously. Ah, here we are now, that seemed faster than usual." Hikari looked away from the other woman and stared straight ahead. The ceiling was now further away than it had been before, and in it was a grate, the kind you see on the streets and don't give a second glance to. Leading up to it was a ladder of metal rungs all fixed into the wall. Edward was already climbing upwards, and as he hung from the top rung, he rapped his knuckles three times on the grate. Three knocks replied, and Edward knocked once more. There were excited murmurs and the sound of someone lifting something heavy. The grate scraped against the concrete and was pulled away, filling the underground tunnel with light. Hikari grimaced against it, but followed Nancy to the bottom of the rung. As Edward pulled himself out into the outside world, Nancy started up, and Hikari decided to wait until Nancy was out before she too started to climb.

"Oh Edward, how have you been?" an excited, angelic voice chirped.

"Giselle, as beautiful as always." A pause. "I have been fine, thank you. How have you and Robert been?"

"Just fantastic," the woman's voice exclaimed. "The business has taken a real boost – we're shipping international now, and we're doing photo shoots all over the world! You will have to see some of the little angels who model for me – they're just adorable. Nancy! Oh, good to see you again!" Hikari looked up and noticed now that Nancy was fully out of the grate, so she started to climb. Now there were two conversations – Nancy was talking to the woman with the beautiful voice, and Edward was talking to another man. Lifting herself up bar by bar, Hikari finally made it to the top and she pulled herself out.

"Uh, Nancy," a new voice started, "who's that?" Hikari, now sat on the edge of what she recognised to be a manhole, looked up to realise everyone was staring at her.

"This is Hikari," Edward said, moving forwards and helping her to her feet. Hikari thanked him for the help and noticed that, as well as the two people whom she assumed were Robert and Giselle, there was also a little girl, a little older than ten years old. "Hikari, this is Giselle, Robert and Morgan."

"Oh, Hikari, what a beautiful name," Giselle chirped. She was about average height with long, strawberry-blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes and pale skin. She was beautiful, in the kind of way a fairytale princess should be beautiful. Next to her, Robert looked very mundane in comparison, with his shaggy brown hair, slightly tanned skin, jeans and shirt. Morgan wore a karate suit with a brown belt around the waist, and her frizzy, brown hair was tied back into a low ponytail. She smiled and Hikari smiled back, rising to her feet.

*****

"I am truly sorry, your highness. I didn't realise the princess would ever be needed, so I didn't see fit to tell her about her status and-"

"Your mistakes may have endangered the entire universe. Every world she travels to is at risk until she is awakened. The heartless can sense her power worlds away and they will hunt her down, leaving a trail of destruction in their path. Because of your lack of judgement, she is a threat without even knowing it, and we cannot afford to take the time to train her. If you had just told her from the beginning..."

Mickey sighed, dropping his large head into his hands and closing his eyes. He couldn't blame Gennai, not really. He should have been back to check up on her; he should have found a way to track her down easier. He should have tried harder to get the co-ordinates from Gennai to Earth and hunt her down himself, tell her the truth, take her away and train her.

But that was hindsight, and Mickey hated it.

He glanced up at Gennai who was sitting tersely on the edge of his seat, obviously nervous. Mickey took one, long, slow blink and then stared the other in the eyes.

"I'm a fool, Gennai," he said, "it's not completely you fault and I cannot solely blame you. The eighth princess should never have been needed; the keybearers should have been able to destroy Maleficent once and for all. Instead she is back for a third time." He was about to say more when an idea struck him.

There was no way he could warn every world of the impending danger, especially not whilst he had to train Hikari as well. But the keybearers could do it. Sora and Riku, both back on Destiny Islands. If he gave them a Gummi ship, Sora would be able to navigate it and both he and Riku would be able to defeat – if only temporarily – anything that came their way. They could easily spread the message. It would take a short while, leaving the Princess Kairi unguarded for a few weeks, but she was able to defend herself. No doubt she had been training since the end of the boys' second adventure. She would be fine for a little while...

"Your highness?" Mickey looked at Gennai's confused expression quickly, and realised that he must have been sitting there thinking for a while.

"I'm sorry, Gennai," he apologised. He then stood. "I'm afraid something has just come to my attention, and I must go. I need to sort a few things out as soon as I can. You need to start training her protector, and the others. Assure them that she is fine, and send me updates on how they are coming along. I feel they will be needed. Likewise, I will send you updates of our progress and the activity of the darkness." Gennai nodded and stood, too, inclining his head.

"I'll see you soon, your highness."

"And you, old friend." With that, Mickey left.

*****

"A princess with no dresses? That's just terrible!" Hikari shrunk back slightly at Giselle's outburst. Nancy shook her head.

"Calm down, Giselle," she said, "she only found out that she was a princess this morning." Giselle stared between the two of them with wide eyes and an open mouth. She stayed that way for a few minutes, sat still on the bed in the small apartment bedroom. Hikari could hear the dim noise of the television from the front room where Robert was explaining American Football to Edward. Morgan was at her Karate lesson, having been dropped off on the way between the portal and the apartment.

"Well," Giselle said finally, "we'll have to fix that, won't we?" She jumped off the king-sized bed, rushed around and dragged Hikari to her feet. She stood back and examined her for a moment before going to her bedside drawer and taking out a notebook, pencil and a tape measure. Without saying a word, she started measuring different parts of Hikari's body, such as the length of her arms, her total height and the width of her shoulders, amongst others. After each measurement she would make a quick note in her pad and then measure something else. Hikari looked helplessly at Nancy, expecting some help, but as soon as Nancy caught her expression, she burst out laughing. Hikari pouted and slouched slightly, but Giselle pulled her shoulders back again. When Nancy stopped laughing, she took a few deep breaths before talking, her voice still quivering.

"Looks like you just became a project," she said, and Hikari frowned. She didn't like where this conversation was heading. "Giselle works in a dress shop – she makes wedding gowns and children's dresses and princess style dresses, really. Last time she was this enthusiastic, she designed and made 12 dresses for me within a week."

"We don't have a week," Hikari said, pleased for an excuse, "and you really don't have to. I don't wear dresses that much anyway, and I won't be able to afford to pay you-"

"Oh don't worry about pay," Giselle chirped. "Every princess needs a dress – a wardrobe of dresses. And since I happen to be the best dress maker in the city, I shall make you an exclusive collection. Now, what colours...? Wait here, I'll go and get my samples." With that she rushed from the room, the door gently closing behind her.

Hikari flopped onto the bed next to Nancy who placed a motherly arm around her shoulders.

"Don't worry, it'll be okay," she said. "Besides, dresses aren't all that bad. The first few times you wear them, you will feel like an absolute idiot. I know I did. But I'm sure with all your world-hopping, you'll be surrounded by other princesses and dresses. You'll get used to it." Hikari nodded slowly and Giselle rushed back in.

"Okay, I will need you here for fitting, but Robert's said you're more than welcome to stay here. The sofa in the front room folds out into a very comfortable bed, and there's plenty of food and room in the house for one more person. I know you're on a tight schedule, so I'll only make you a few. I give it three days, maximum. So I've got all your measurements, I just need to decide materials and designs with you, and we can start making them tomorrow. Is that okay?" Hikari, dumbfounded by Giselle's quick speech, simply nodded, and the dressmaker eagerly clapped her hands together.

"Perfect! Well, here are the samples..." Hikari zoned out at that point, telling Giselle that no, she didn't know what colours she wanted; yes, it was fine, Giselle could pick out all the designs and colours and in actual fact, she didn't have any sense of fashion or colour co-ordination – she just threw on what was clean.

When Nancy and Edward had to leave, Hikari wanted to go with them. But Giselle dragged her into the front room to stand on a short stool and be wrapped in different coloured cloths. Hikari tried not to show her boredom; it was going to be a long day...

*****

Pebbles: Once again, I'm really sorry it's late. Really. Finally managed to get it all finished, and now it's straight onto the next chapter.

I have to say that with upcoming A Levels in a couple of months, I do need time to revise, and I haven't got the time to churn out a 5,000+ chapter in a week, as well as do my coursework and get a decent amount of revision in, as well as sleep (which I'm having trouble with at the moment). And then there's trying to organise the school panto, I have two dance classes a week and a new job... This means that **I will be updating every OTHER Friday**!! This will give me more time to work on the chapters and not make them as rushed as this one has been. So, not this Friday, but the Friday after will be when the next chapter SHOULD be online. No promises.

**REFERENCE POINTS:**

Don't think I have any, really...

**REVIEW RESPONSES:**

**Dracula-key:** Sorry for the late update. Hope your heart didn't break too much while I was away!! And don't worry, the action has AT LEAST another 11 chapters in my plan, and I'm barely halfway through all the worlds that I have planned to visit. Oh, and I plan to do a sequel, too, should I finished this one.

**Charlie-becks:** Thanks :D Takeru's a what, sorry? And don't worry, Matt and Tai (Yamato and Taichi) will be coming into to it in the next few chapters.

Thanks to **Charlie-becks** for adding this story to their story alert list!

Pebbles: So yeah, remember, **updates are EVERY OTHER FRIDAY!!**

And I'm sorry about the delay on this one.

Really. =]


	6. Big Sister

Pebbles: Okay, so this is the next chapter. Funny story; most of this was supposed to be in the last chapter, but I realised that if I had included it, there would have been a few problems:

1) The story would have moved to fast. It would have been "Bam – Princess – Digital World – Another World – A Whole New World (_Don't you dare close your eyes_...sorry) – and then done, onto the next.

2) The chapter would have been far too long, and everyone would probably rather have hung themselves from their cat than continue reading it without a break.

So I decided to spread the chapters out a bit, meaning that this one, by comparison, will probably move a little slower than the last few. A nice little break, don't you think?

And I've had some interest in two of my stories – Weekend and No Matter! I'm currently e-mailing the other author and, with his permission, I will link you to his profile where you can read the stories.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, any of the Disney characters, places or products, or any of the Digimon characters, places or products. However, I will claim to own the concept of this story.

WARNING: It's going to be long. But at least I updated on time, right? =D

*****

**Big Sister**

*****

"Please, daddy? Oh please, please, _please_?" Hikari stifled a chuckle; Morgan was quite cute when begging for something. The only thing giving away her obvious innocence was the silver credit card clutching in her pleading hands. Giselle stood by the doorway, smiling, having already given her consent. Now it was down to Robert, who sat on the sofa, trying to ignore his daughter's large, brown eyes. Finally, he sighed and Morgan grinned, knowing she had won.

"Oh, all right then," he caved, "but you can't miss your karate lesson, okay?" Morgan cheered and rushed into her room. Hikari, perched on the edge of her seat, held back a sigh.

When Giselle had mentioned that her old work shoes were becoming uncomfortable and she needed a new pair, Morgan had jumped up at the idea of shopping. And, with Robert's credit card in hard, she had begged her father to let her go shopping, too, her excuse being that Hikari would need things for her adventure.

"You really don't have to do this, you know," she said after a moment's pause. Giselle smiled kindly.

"Nonsense, we want to," she reassured.

"But it's your money," Hikari tried to reason.

"And we want to spend it on you," Giselle countered. With a dramatic sigh, she neatly seated herself inbetween Hikari and Robert, who leant forwards slightly. "Look at it this way, the shopping is more for Morgan than you. I hope you won't be offended if I use the term babysitter, but we need somebody to supervise her. New York's not a very nice place, especially for a young girl on her own."

"Consider this a child-minding job with perks," Robert suggested, smiling. "And besides, Nancy told us that you've apparently had quite a stressful time. You need to take the time to relax, and Morgan can do that. Although shopping with Morgan might not be the least stressful thing in the world." At that point, Morgan rushed back in, now fully dressed in trainers, jeans and a jumper, and over her shoulder was a moderate rucksack.

"Got my karate kit," she said, shrugging her shoulder. Robert nodded and stood, and Giselle rose with him.

"Well in that case I'll give you both a lift into town. Morgan, I'm sure you can help Hikari find all the good shops. Remember, get the essentials first, got that?" Morgan nodded, bouncing on her heels and edging ever closer to the door.

"Come on, Robert, I think she'll burst if we don't go soon," Giselle laughed, moving to take her coat. "Besides, I want to get to work early. The photographer's coming down today for next year's catalogue and I need to make sure all the dresses are ready. And work on Hikari's, of course." Morgan beamed and grabbed her own coat, shoving her arms through it and waiting impatiently for Robert, who took a jacket from the coat stand.

"Don't you have a coat?" Morgan asked as Hikari moved to stand with them. Hikari shook her head.

"Nope, this is everything I have with me," she answered.

"Well then, you'll need a coat first," Giselle said, leading the way out of the apartment. Robert locked up. "The wind can have quite a chill when it wants to."

The car ride was spent in silence for Hikari as she listened to the family of three talk avidly. Morgan was suggesting shoe shops for Giselle to try, but Giselle replied that most of them were far too expensive – she only wanted a pair of practical shoes for work. Robert seemed in agreement with Giselle. Morgan muttered under her breath a few times that it just meant there was "more money for her to spend", which she didn't seem to be too upset about.

They were dropped off at the top of a long street of shops and Hikari thanked Robert for the ride.

"It's no problem," Robert replied, "just remember to have some cash on you for the taxi home, just in case you want to go home early." Hikari nodded and noticed Robert's nervous glance towards Morgan.

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of her," she reassured. "The streets back...where I used to live were a bit busier than this. I'm sure we'll manage." Okay, so she hadn't been shopping in a while, but she had survived Tokyo for 4 hours on her own when separated from her parents and brother. That was hectic.

Robert nodded, although Hikari could tell he was still somewhat nervous, and started the engine, wound up the window and drove away.

As soon as he was around the far corner, Morgan grabbed Hikari's hand and started to drag her down the street, talking so fast Hikari could barely understand.

"Okay, so there's this awesome clothes shop a little further down the street," she babbled, "not exactly high fashion, but it's got low prices and bright colours, the best kind of shop. There's a cute little shoe shop on the corner – obviously you're not going to want heels if you're off doing...well, when you're _travelling_-" She turned to wink at Hikari. "-but they do some nice trainers. Then obviously you'll need essentials like a couple of jackets, toothbrush, toothpaste, hair stuff and..." Hikari stopped listening, a sense of urgency tingling the back of her head. Frowning slightly, she looked around as she was dragged down the street. She couldn't see anything, yet she still felt anxious, like something was about to happen.

After a few hours of shopping, however, keeping an eye on Morgan was beginning to become a full-time job, overriding the anxious tingling at the back of her brain. The girl could be quite easily walking straight ahead down a street, and then she'd point something out to Hikari, who would look, and by the time she looked back, Morgan had disappeared down a side street, completely oblivious to the world around her, and Hikari had to run to catch up.

Needless to say, by the time they arrived at Morgan's karate class, laden with more bags than she could remember the contents of, Hikari quite willingly sat at the side of the room, watching as Morgan and her class moved through the motions with such synchronisation, they could have all been the same person.

Hikari frowned occasionally as she sat and thought. She would have to learn stuff like this; learn how to defend herself. She studied each and every move the group went through, moving her body slightly in her seat to try and mimic them, and she focused on everything that was said about them – the strengths, the weaknesses and what situation it would be good for. When the class moved into graded groups, Hikari took her eyes away from Morgan and focused on the older students with the purple, brown and black belts, who were having a friendly one-on-one competition.

Of course, she realised, it would not be one-on-one with the heartless. And they would be biting, scratching and grabbing, not executing a well-rehearsed sequence of moves. She didn't quite trust Mickey enough yet to believe that her fighting skills would come to her naturally. After all, when had she ever fought? She couldn't even recall the last time she had had a verbal fight with anybody, let alone a physical one.

*****

The sun washing over his skin and the wind blowing through his wild, brown hair, Sora had never been happier.

He was stretched out on the beach with his hands behind his head, his shoes next to his knees and his bare feet playing with the sand and the sun heated his legs, arms and stomach. Next to him, he could hear the clacking of thalassa shells as Kairi strung them together to make another bracelet, and on his other side was Riku, most likely staring out at the horizon, thinking, as he usually did. The birds called to each other in the trees, and sounds of the small town on the coast drifted to them on the winds.

"Whoa, what was that?!" Sora's eyes jerked open at Riku's shout, and Kairi gasped.

"It's beautiful!" she said breathlessly. Sora popped himself up on his elbows and looked towards the sea, noticing instantly what they were both looking.

Shooting through the sky was a white star, trailed by a tail of golden glitter. It shot towards the sea at an amazing speed, and then plummeted into the ocean, causing a splash that shot up at least ten feet high. Sora glanced to Kairi and Riku, received similar, confused glances in return. Then Riku smirked.

"Race ya," he said, scrambling to his feet. Sora, somewhat more gracefully, pulled himself off his rear and took off slightly after Riku, who sped up, laughing. With Kairi a few steps behind him, and falling behind with every footfall, Sora thrived upon the adrenaline running through his veins. He wasn't about to let Riku get _his_ fallen star.

With another change of pace, Sora pushed himself on more, catching up to Riku. He looked to his left and the pale-haired other turned to face him in shock. Sora smirked at Riku's surprise and spurred himself forwards, entering the water a second before Riku. Now it was harder to run, and although the waves seemed non-existent, the undercurrents pulled at Sora's legs, slowing him down. Riku caught up to him and they were neck and neck, and splashing from behind told Sora that Kairi had entered the water behind them.

"Come on, keyblade master," Riku teased, "I thought you were faster than this." Sora scoffed.

"Says you, keyblade _weilder_." Leaving Riku behind him, Sora took a glance to locate the star and he dove under the water, swimming quickly towards it. The water was warm, and he'd been planning on a swim sometime today anyway.

Surfacing, Sora took a deep gulp of air and swam towards where the star had landed. Or at least he thought he knew where it landed. Unable to see the glinting star any longer, he turned back around to see that he was quite far away from the shore now. Riku was a little further behind, still able to stand (darn him for being so tall!) and Kairi stood closer to the shore.

"What's wrong?" she called.

"It's gone!" Sora shouted back. "The star's...gone..." He turned to Riku who simply shrugged in his usual, nonchalance way.

"Hey, guys, this might be it!" The two of them turned to Kairi, who was holding a shining something up in the air. With nothing else to go on, Sora started back towards her, pouting – all that racing for nothing. But at least he had won.

Coming closer to Kairi, Sora slowed, Riku next to him, and they both stared at the object in her hands. It was a green-tinted glass bottle, and inside was a piece of paper. Sora extended his hand for it and Kairi gave it to him, not even attempting to try and pop the well-secured cork. Grinning at it, Sora glanced down at the bottle and noticed the strange black marking on the paper inside.

"That's the King's symbol, right?" Kairi asked. Sora dumbly nodded, staring at the collection of three overlapping circles that represented the head of King Mickey of Disney castle. But what would the king want with them?

Determined, Sora gripped the bottle and the cork in opposite hands and started pulling.

It didn't move.

Growling, he twisted it. Still nothing. Pulling and twisting? Still no movement. Calming himself, he took a deep breath, hunched his shoulders and tried again, pulling as hard as he could. With a sigh of defeat, he relented when nothing happened again. Pouting, he placed the bottle into Riku's outstretched palm. The white-blond took one look at the bottle before effortlessly twisting and pulling the cork out with a small 'pop'. Sora folded his arms across his chest.

"Yeah, but I loosened it for you though..." he muttered. Riku seemed not to hear him, focusing intently on the letter that dropped into his hand from the upturned, open bottle. Sora made his way out of the water to go and dry on the sand, scuffing his toes into the warm, wet grains as the waves lapped around his soles. He was sure he had felt the cork go just before he gave it to Riku. It had jolted, yeah. He had definitely got the worst of it loosened.

"Mickey needs us, urgently." Sora jumped at Riku's voice and jumped around to see the other right behind him, Kairi following from the sea. "Apparently Maleficent's back."

"What? But we defeated her! That's impossible!"

"Apparently not," Riku countered, "and we're needed again."

"But my mom only just recovered from me leaving the last time!" Sora whined. "Do we at least have time to tell them we're going?" Riku shook his head.

"He says it's urgent," he explained, "and we need to go as soon as possible. This will take us to the Gummi Ship and you're to fly us to Disney Castle, where Mickey will tell us what's going on. I guess Kairi'll just have to tell our parents where we've gone." Sora turned to Kairi who seemed unsure about the situation.

"Can't I come with you? Gummi ships are usually built for three, right?" Sora's heart broke at the baby-blue eyes that pleaded with him. He turned to Riku, who seemed to have all the answers, but the blond was unfortunately shaking his head.

"Sorry, the King said this one's only for two," he said.

"So I'm stuck here again then," she summarised. Riku nodded, heading back up the beach to grab his shoes. Sora ignored him, turning to Kairi instead.

"Don't worry, Kairi," he said, "I'm sure it's nothing. We'll be back before you know it – it's probably not Maleficent at all; probably just some bad guy pretending to be her. And this time, you've got your keyblade, so no worries about being kidnapped. With all the training from me, you'll be able to defend yourself from a million heartless!"

"Don't forget Riku's training," she reminded him. He pouted again.

"Yeah, but it was mostly me," he whined. She giggled, stretching up to pat his head.

"Yes, Sora, yes it was," she said patronisingly. "Now come on, if the King needs you, you need to get going. Don't worry, I'll tell your mum and dad. I'm sure when I tell them you're not alone, they'll be fine with it." Sora nodded, smiling.

"So...race ya?" Kairi giggled and ran off ahead of him, sprinting as fast as he could. Sora gave her a few moments head start, turning instead to look at the sky. Through the clouds, he saw a small, dark blip against the blue sky, and he grimly knew that, despite what he had told Kairi, he would not be coming back soon.

*****

After the class, Morgan took Hikari to a small corner shop full of mismatching sofas, chairs and tables, and filled with energy. There was a small space with a high stool and a microphone for people to perform – most likely guitarists – but nobody was playing.

"So what's it like?" Morgan asked.

"What's what like?" Hikari replied inbetween bites of her sandwich.

"Being a princess," she clarified in a hushed tone, looking at the other customers as thought discussing a state secret over hot chocolates. "I asked Giselle before, but she said she wasn't a princess. Well, she would have been if she had married Edward, I guess. But you're a real life princess, right?" She took another bite of her sandwich and stared at Hikari with eager eyes. Hikari shrugged, stirring her beverage.

"I don't really know," she answered truthfully. "I didn't know I was a princess until a couple of days ago." Morgan gasped, dropping her spoon into her empty hot chocolate mug where it gradually clattered to a stop.

"How could you not know?" she asked, shocked. "I mean, don't you live in a big castle with dresses and horses and stuff?" Hikari laughed slightly.

"Not really," she replied. "I live in a really busy city. Princesses and magic don't exist there; I had to go to school and have a part-time job just like everybody else. I didn't even know there were other worlds until I was forced into them. And I think I'll be seeing plenty more in the near future."

"So...no pretty dresses?" Morgan asked, breathless. Hikari shook her head.

"That's why Giselle is making some for me. I told her she didn't have to, but she did anyway." Morgan nodded, laughing.

"That's Giselle," she said, as though that explained everything. "She's always making things. When we first found her, she made dresses out of the drapes and the rug on my floor and the net curtains. She used everything." Hikari drained the last of the hot chocolate and ate the last of her sandwich. About to ask how they met Giselle, she was interrupted when Morgan spoke instead.

"Are you finished? Because when I was in the changing room I booked us both in for a makeover with this guy on the high street," she explained. "He sometimes oversees all the hair and make up for Giselle's magazine shoots if Giovanni can't make it. But he's free today, and said he'd give us a discount if we got there by two thirty." Hikari glanced down at her watch.

"And how far away is the salon?" she asked. Morgan shrugged, standing up and putting on her coat.

"About twenty minutes away," was the reply. It was currently 2:15.

"We might be a little late," she said, standing and putting her own, recently bought jacket on. The fleecy lining felt warm and soft against her skin, and she slightly hitched up her new jeans. "But I guess we could make it if we hurry." Although she doubted hurrying was going to work. Despite resting during the karate lesson and whilst they ate and drank, Hikari's feet still hurt and her whole body ached. She didn't really want a makeover anyway. She might just sit and watch as Morgan had hers done. Read a magazine or something. Maybe ask Morgan if Robert would mind her buying a few books, and she could read...

Unfortunately, twenty minutes for Morgan seemed to be more like 10 minutes when they rushed, meaning they arrived five minutes early. Morgan was instantly at ease, hanging her coat on a hook and looking for someone. Hikari, on the other hand, had never been comfortable in any form of salon or beauty shop. It was a fairly large salon, with half of the room split off for hair and the other half for make-up. In the middle of the shop was a large staircase, leading upstairs, and waiting at the bottom was a small group of people, all dressed in stylish black trousers and black shirts, all of them immaculate.

"Ah, Morgan!" One of the men walked forwards, flicking his dark brown hair out of his eyes. "It's so good to see you."

"And you too, Mitchell," Morgan replied.

"And who is this you have brought with you?" He stepped towards Hikari, observing her closely. Hikari shifted, uncomfortably, as the man peered towards her, staring at her face.

"Her names Hikari," Morgan answered before falling silent.

"Beautiful cheekbones, nice lips, good shoulder lines and a long neck, and such unique eyes..." Hikari lowered her gaze to the floor. She didn't like it when people stared at her eyes. They were a deep crimson – too red and light to be hazelnut brown but too dark to be albino pink – and people commonly stared when they noticed. Mitchell was no exception, and she flickered her gaze upwards to find him returning it in a mixture of awe and thought. Finally he straightened, walked around both Morgan and Hikari slowly, studying them both, before finally turning back to the small group, who had made their way over towards them.

"Okay, Kaylin, you take their bags and put them in the lockers upstairs. Jason, Terry, you wash their hair. Tegan, Jenny, Oscar, Erica, let's talk." Hikari was ushered off by one of the other men – Jason, she gathered from his name tag – and he placed her in a chair, bringing her head back over the basin and starting to rinse.

"You've got very lovely hair," he commented, gently massaging shampoo into it. "Very shiny. What shampoo do you use?"

"Uh...whatever I can find, really," she answered. Usually she just bought what was cheap off the shelf, washed her hair and put it up, never really doing anything with it.

"And you don't style it that much, do you?" he continued. "I can tell it's not straightened, but you are due a trim. Just as well you came down today. You'll probably get Tegan to oversee everything, and then Oscar doing your hair. They're very good. Been working here years – since the salon first opened, really. I'm still on washing at the moment – fresh out of beauty school, me. It sounds so weird, that...'_Beauty School_'. Ah well." He continued to talk as he rinsed the shampoo out and repeated the actions with conditioner.

After gently towel-drying her hair, Hikari was lead over to a seat where a woman with black hair tied back into a tight bun was waiting for her.

"Okay, my name's Tegan and I'm going to be taking care of your hair," the woman explained. She then started on some small talk, asking Hikari if she'd ever had a makeover before (which she hadn't), if she'd ever dyed her hair ("Nope, not once," Hikari replied) and calmly reassuring her that she was in good hands; she had done thousands of makeovers on thousands of girls, and never once had a complaint. She also explained that the theme they had come up with for Hikari's "new image" was a princess theme. Morgan, sat next to her, had winked at this point; obviously she had suggested it.

For the next two hours, Hikari was primped and preened, made up then made down again. Her hair was dyed, washed again, trimmed, curled and then set. Whilst other things were being waited upon, her make-up was done, with concealer, foundation and eye shadow. She didn't see the first result, because Mitchell came over to inspect it, and instantly shook his head.

"Too much," he exclaimed. The make-up artists, Jenny and Erica, were quick to apply a new look, seek Mitchell's approval, and then redo the make-up entirely. This happened several times inbetween Tegan doing various different things to her hair. Whilst Morgan seemed to be enjoying the attention, Hikari sat still most of the time, uncomfortable. Miyako had tried to make her have a makeover once, but Hikari had protested enough to get out of it. She wasn't the kind of girls who worried about her hair or her make-up, or her appearance in general, really. When not wearing her uniform, her clothes were usually picked from whatever was clean, and as she didn't go out much, that didn't bother her.

Two and a half hours later, Hikari was being finished with hairspray and lip gloss, and Mitchell finally seemed to approve. Hikari caught a glance at Morgan, who looked absolutely stunning. Her thick, wavy hair had been tamed into ringlets that bounced around her angelic face. She wore a slight hint of dark eye shadow around the corners of her eyes, mascara to match and a subtle shade upon her lips that made her skin tone look slightly darker.

"Here you go, Hikari," Tegan announced, standing next to the covered mirror. She hadn't been allowed to see anything that was going on during the process, and she wasn't too sure she really wanted to see what she looked like now.

But Tegan drew back the cloth anyway, and Hikari felt her heart skip a beat as she stared straight ahead, locking eyes with the beautiful brunette that stared back at her. The girl's hair was gently twisted into loose curls that decorated her shoulders and her back, and her side parting had been turned into a side fringe. There were slight hints of red and black in her hair that glinted in the salon lights and she moved. Her make-up was barely there – just a flawless base and subtle mascara and blusher and lip gloss. Closing her mouth, the girl in the mirror did too, and when Hikari cocked her head to the side, so did she. It had to be her reflection, there was just no way she could look so...so....

"Gorgeous," Mitchell exclaimed, coming over. "Beautiful! Now, Tegan, I've just received an urgent call from Giselle, something's gone wrong with the photo shoot she's doing today, and she needs another stylist. Something about missing models, but she sounded quite stressed." Morgan turned to him.

"We were supposed to be heading over that way," she said. "Any chance of a lift?" Mitchell laughed.

"You little mind reader," he joked, "I was about to ask if you were going there or not. Come on, then, let's get your bags and get going."

Hikari had forgotten just how much they had bought before the makeover, but surrounded by the bags in the backseat of the small car, Hikari didn't see how she could have. Shoes, clothes, accessories (most of them Morgan's; Hikari had more less items that were more sensible) all sat neatly in the individual bags, jumbled together, so each bag most likely had something of Hikari's and something of Morgan's. It would have to be sorted when they got back to the apartment.

They were supposed to have met Giselle from work if they were still in town so that Giselle could work on Hikari's dress ("Don't worry if you don't come down; if you're not there by six, when we've finished cleaning up, I'll just bring the dresses back with me," Giselle had said with a smile). It was now nearing five o' clock, half an hour before the store was due to close. Hikari had yet to go to Andalasia Fashions, Giselle's self-owned business. Robert, a lawyer, took care of most of the legal side, and one of his friends helped with running the business, organising the finance and everything else, from what Hikari had gathered. Although Giselle seemed a smart young woman, Hikari knew from Morgan's stories the night before (when she had crept into the sitting room after heading for a midnight snack but noticing Hikari still awake) that Giselle had originally come from Andalasia, had been due to marry Edward, but then some sort of fiasco had happened, which ended up with Giselle and Robert's now ex-girlfriend, Nancy, swapping places, something all parties involved had been happy with, especially Morgan, judging by the excited look in her eyes when she told Hikari the story.

The car smoothly pulled into a spot directly outside of Andalasia fashions after another car had driven away, and the three of them – Hikari, Morgan and Mitch (or Mitchell, as his full name seemed to be) hurried inside, all carrying handfuls of bags.

Inside was beautiful but chaotic. There were numerous dresses on various manikins, and rolls of every colour and type of fabric imaginable lined the walls. There were tables with magazines of Andalasia fashions' past and present designs. But amongst all of this were tables at the far end of the large shop floor where young women were being fitted into dresses in a frenzied panic. There was shouting as the designers called to each other for one thing or another. The clattering of shoes as the models rushed to and from the fitting stations, and an all round sense of urgency that had Hikari's senses tingling.

But she was unable to stop and admire the difference between the calm forefront of the shop and the frenzied rear-half, instead she was ushered up the stairs after Morgan and infront of Mitch, and Hikari found that upstairs was a lot calmer, mainly because it was decorated to be exactly like an enchanted forest.

Although the stairs hadn't had that much attention paid to them, everything else was surrounded by fake trees so realistic Hikari had to double check that they weren't real. There was a backdrop of a highly-decorated forest, and standing infront of the drop on the leaf-speckled floor were five small girls, all dressed in princess dresses, their hair curled and some wearing tiaras.

"Oh, Mitchell, I'm so glad you're here!" They turned to see Giselle rushing towards them, her once-neat hair flying out behind her in loose strands. "Today's been so hectic. Three of the older models didn't turn up, and then Giovanni's assistant had to run back to the salon to get a few things and he got stuck in traffic. We're so far behind – we should have been done half an hour ago! Oh!" She turned to Hikari and Morgan and her eyes went wide. She then breathed a sigh of what sounded like relief. Then, surging forwards, she took both Morgan and Hikari by the hands and dragged them towards a long rail of dresses, a small sign held up on the top reading "_Princesses-recent_".

"Morgan, go on, pick a dress and go to the changing rooms, you know, the usual," Giselle instructed. As Morgan went down the rail, Giselle turned to Hikari. "I'm so sorry to throw you into this, but you wouldn't model for me, would you? I wouldn't ask, but I'm desperate." She turned her wide, blue eyes to Hikari who tried to frown, but found herself unable to do anything but nod. She looked desperate; never mind the tone of her voice.

"Excellent! Well, here we go, we're doing the _Princess _line at the moment, but after that we've got _Prom_ and _Fairies _to do. It shouldn't take too long, not with you and Morgan now here, and we have Mitch to help with hair and make-up. I think some of his people are coming over when the salon closes to help, as well. They usually do when we have a crisis..." Hikari was handed a beautiful emerald dress with puffy sleeves and a full skirt, and was told to where to go to get changed. After she was changed, one of the fitters ushered her over to a workstation where the dress was pinned and tacked to perfection, then she was hurried upstairs to be photographed (with the makeover still fresh, it had been decided that nothing needed to be done to her face or hair). She was then told to watch the other models and, when infront of the camera, told to do as they did.

When it was her turn, she mimicked them as best she could, but she would rather have faced an entire army of heartless than stand infront of a camera. Behind a camera, she was at ease – she loved taking pictures of anyone and anything – but when she was _in_ the picture...That was a whole entirely different story.

But she did her best to smile and pose. The photographer, when he wasn't kindly instructing her to drop her shoulder or turn slightly to the left, was smiling, and every time he glanced at the display on the back of the camera, the grin got wider.

After about 10 or more pictures, the photographer called "next" and Hikari was taken back to the line of dresses, where she was given another one to go and change into. The process was repeated again – changing, fitting, waiting, smiling, posing and then changed again. It happened a few times until the _Princess_ line was complete, and then they moved onto the _Fairies_, which was apparently part of Giselle's costume range (Hikari was almost sad that she had missed the pirate costumes).

There was a small break inbetween the _Fairies_ and the _Prom_ lines, but two hours later, everything was being packed away everyone was getting back into their clothes. Most of the models were loudly planning on taking advantage of the makeovers and were planning on going out on the town for the night whilst still looking gorgeous. A couple asked Hikari if she wanted to join them, but she declined, politely telling them that she had things to do.

Another hour after everything was packed away, four of Hikari's dresses had been tried, tested and fitted, and they were taking a taxi home. Once back at the apartment, Giselle, though obviously tired, took time to go over Morgan's purchases. Hikari sat quietly at the side, waiting quietly as Robert cooked dinner and Giselle and Morgan talked. Hikari felt a pang of jealousy; he parents were quite happy to globe trot the entire world, and Hikari hadn't thought she had missed them. It hurt now to realise that she had.

Settling down that night on the sofa bed, Hikari felt her heart beat painfully. It took her a few minutes to realise that each painful beat was for each day that she had not seen her parents. Every day she had woken up alone and every night she had said "goodnight" to an empty home.

*****

Pebbles: Ah!! I'm going to have to split this chapter _again_! This is ridiculous! There should have been three parts – the shopping spree with Morgan, the scene on Destiny Islands and then a fight scene, but that will have to wait for the next chapter! I'm going to have to start controlling how much I write. Ah well. Just as well I decided to change to every other week for updates – this chapter has taken me a while to get out. Of course, it doesn't help that the Viking society is kicking off, the pantomime needs to get done and it has been Red Nose Week this week. So much fun stuff going on, it's been awesome.

**REFERENCE POINTS:**

[Pictures, websites – all need to be http:// www . name . com / etc, with spaces]

**REVIEW RESPONSES:**

**dracula-key: **Don't worry, I'm not about to give up on this baby yet! At least I know you're sticking with me. And ha – "lazy bum". I love that saying... (No, saying's not the right word...Ah I'm sure it'll come to me...)

Thanks to **HiME ViSUAL, hime-chan91 and Jaeda star** for adding this story to their Favourites list.

Thanks to **Hikari No Tenshi** for adding this story to their Alert list.

Pebbles: So, sorry it was a bit of an uneventful chapter. Like I said, I did intend to include a fight scene, but there just wasn't space for it unfortunately. Anyway, I'm off to bed, considering it is now 04:43 AM and I need sleep considering I have school tomorrow morning, with Art first lesson. Darn it.

Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you thought!! Thank you 


	7. The Gummi Ship

Pebbles: Okay so this chapter is going to be quite short compared to the others because, with it being the third part of what should have been one chapter, I haven't got much to put in if I want to keep to the chapter plan that I have (although I've added a small piece of what should be in the next chapter here just to even them out). Apologies for the fight scene – I'm trying to improve my fighting writing (ha, rhyme!) but unfortunately the only way everyone's said to get better is to practice and get criticism. So, if you want something done better or differently, or think of something that might improve my writing, please let me know. I'm not only writing for myself here, I'm writing for you.

Wow.

Doesn't that sound like the cheesiest sales pitch in the world?

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, any of the Disney characters, places or products, or any of the Digimon characters, places or products. However, I will claim to own the concept of this story.

*****

**The Gummi Ship**

*****

Having dropped Morgan off at her friend's house ("We didn't know you were friends with _supermodels_!" they had gasped to Morgan) Hikari was now heading to Andalasia fashions, where the final pieces of her dresses were to be completed. Robert had made sure that she had enough money (and more) for a taxi to the high street, and from there she was going to walk. She was glad she could memorize directions quickly, as it meant she could find the dress shop from almost anywhere on the busy shopping street.

However, the taxi was currently stuck in traffic, and Hikari sat anxiously waiting – the meter continued to rise, the charge for the ride becoming higher and higher, and she only had a certain amount of money. What was the hold up?

It was probably traffic lights. Or some crazy guy who'd tried to drive across the junction and collided with another car. Hikari readjusted her position n the backseat to try and catch a glimpse of whatever was holding them up, but there were too many cars – most of them taxis – ahead, and Hikari couldn't see anything past them.

There was a commotion at the front of the queue, and suddenly there were people screaming, running towards Hikari's taxi and then carrying on past it in a frenzy. The taxi driver suddenly seemed anxious too, but Hikari was more focused on the fact that every sense in her body was tingling. There was danger, and it was heading her way.

She threw some money at the cab driver, thanked him quickly and got out. He called out to her, some form of warning, but she ignored him and carried on running against the crowds, being pushed into cars and other people as she tried to get closer.

"You're going the wrong way!" a man called, grabbing her wrist and dragging her with him. He looked terrified. "There are monsters there – terrifying monsters that rip through cars. You won't stand a chance! Come on!"

"No, I have to see what's going on," she replied, struggling against him.

"You're crazy! Didn't you hear me? There are _monsters_! _Monsters_!" She grabbed the hand around her wrist and dug her nails in as hard as she could, digging her heels into the ground as she did so.

"Monsters are my speciality," she replied, applying more pressure with her nails. He yelped in pain and let go.

"You're insane," he whispered, turning and running away. Hikari turned back to look towards the commotion – she was further back than her taxi had been, but the 'monsters' seemed to be coming towards her.

And finally, she saw them. Little black creatures that darted inbetween the cabs, peering through windows and scratching the paintwork with their sharp, black claws. Heartless.

Hikari was shunted backwards by another panicked runner, and she lost sight of the creatures. She also realised that, although Mickey had told her that her fighting ability would be innate, she had no clue how to summon her weapon – her keyblade. Now she panicked, and started to back away slowly. She hit her lower back on the wing mirror of a black car, but she continued to slowly step backwards.

Something grabbed her shoulder, ripping her shirt and tackling her to the ground. She screamed, and the last few stragglers a few cars away turned to look, but carried on running. They obviously thought she was a lost cause.

Rolling onto her back, Hikari quickly found herself covered with a mountain of heartless. They ripped at her clothes and skin, and they held her down so others could attack. She held back the screams, instead trying to find a way to wriggle free. Concentrating on escaping numbed the pain of the scars.

Suddenly there was something in her hand, a flash of light and the heartless backed away instantly. Scrambling to her feet, Hikari noticed that the beautiful keyblade was clasped in her right, scarred hand. But she had no time to admire it as the heartless were attacking again, screaming in silent rage with their eyes as they clawed for her body. She beat them away as quickly as she could, each one taking about three to four hits before disappearing in a small cloud of black smoke. But there were more than she could handle, and she didn't have enough space.

Inbetween attacks, she looked everywhere for somewhere she could lead the fight. She knew they would follow her; they were here for her. But she needed room; it was hard to fight whilst avoiding cars.

Instantly she found the space she wanted. Knocking a heartless out of her vision, Hikari saw the park. There were people crowded against the gates, trying to watch, just as they were in the shops, but if they had any sense they would run away. She would have plenty of room there, and she'd be able to use magic. She wasn't sure how _Thunder_ would react to all the metal cars, but she was sure it wouldn't be good.

Clearing herself a path through the heartless, she darted through the cars, running over bonnets and squeezing inbetween rear-ends, heading for the large park gates. As soon as the people realised where she was heading, they screamed, running away in a panic. This was good – this meant they would be out of the way.

Hikari ran through the gates whilst the heartless poured through the fences, quickly gaining on her. There were still too many obstacles; she continued to run. Dodging trees, benches and heartless until she found the perfect place, a plaza-like area infront of a large fountain. Skidding to a halt, she turned to face the oncoming masses, keyblade at the ready. They rushed at her and, as soon as she felt they were close enough, she threw her keyblade into the air.

"_Thunder_!" she called. The bolts of lightning came from nowhere, striking the first wave of heartless and turning them to a wave of black smoke. Now aware of it, Hikari could feel a slight drain of her energy. That must be the magic taking its toll. She would have to learn how to 'listen' to that.

The next wave of heartless came too quickly for Hikari and she staggered back slightly before regaining her senses and wielding her blade. The heartless seemed somewhat weaker now, and it took only two to three hits before they disappeared. But more and more came, more than she had ever seen before. And all of them finding new ways to attack. Hikari used _Thunder_ once more before resulting to _Fire_, throwing fireballs from her key at each of the attacking heartless, which instantly incinerated them, causing them to disappear.

She ducked as a heartless flew for her head, and she hissed in pain as it ripped out a few precious strands. Straightening as quickly as she could, she span around, the keyblade outstretched and snagging on the heartless, tossing them aside like rag dolls. She used _Thunder_ again and then charged into the oncoming hoard with her weapon at the ready. People were crowded hiding behind trees and benches, watching, but Hikari paid them no heed. Something deep within her told her that if they weren't clever enough to run, then they were brave enough to get hurt.

Feeling exhaustion coming faster than she could avoid it, she knew the only way was to use the last of her magical resources, which would dwindle the remaining forces to a few that she could handle. Louder and more emphatically than before, she thrust her keyblade to the air, calling _Thunder_ – it seemed to be the most effective of the spells she knew – and she kept it aloft this time, hoping the longer she did, the more lightning would strike the heartless. The heartless, which had formed a ring around her, disappeared in smoke, the closest three rings vanishing.

Now there were only a handful left, and it didn't look like there were going to be any more. Fuelled by adrenaline, she pushed forwards, ignoring her aching muscles to defeat the first heartless she came to. When it vanished, she turned to the next, smiting it down in a single strike. Two came at her at once, but a blow to both of them from one swing of her keyblade knocked them back towards the fountain where, upon contact, they disappeared. Now four were charging at her, and she nimbly jumped outside of their approaching ring. They collided into each other, they were stunned for a few moments before charging at her, two others joining them. Hikari was relentless, attacking with a fury fuelled by the rest of her energy, and brandishing her weapon until only one more heartless remained. With a final swing, she cleaved the black body in two, and it turned to smoke before her keyblade touched the ground.

She held herself up on shaking knees in the following silence. She had never felt so drained – she felt as though she was going to collapse. But there was something tugging at her senses, something left undone that needed to be completed immediately. She turned to the fountain, wondering what it meant. Something was pulling her towards it, and she took a few tentative steps forwards, examining the main decoration of the beautiful architecture.

Something was glowing in the middle of a small, flat section right before her. She stepped closer again, staring at it closely. It was a golden, glowing outline, like that of a keyhole on an old fashioned lock. But why was there a keyhole in a fountain? And what could it-

The keyblade vibrated in her hand. Looking down, she saw the tip of it glowing the same golden colour. It was shaking, as thought trying to go somewhere, and Hikari realised that she had her arm clenched tightly into her side. Relaxing her muscles, the keyblade slowly rose upwards until it was pointing straight at the glowing keyhole.

There was a final shudder from the beautiful weapon, and suddenly a ribbon of gold shot forwards, landing in the centre of the keyhole, which exploded in a show of white light. Hikari stared at it in awe as it expanded outwards; it's reflection in the rippling waters below doubling its majestic appearance.

And then it shrank back, everything disappearing in half the time it took to appear. A tiny shimmer of sparkles, and the surface now bore an engraving of what Hikari was sure was the crest of light. Her crest. Her insignia, she supposed.

Suddenly she was aware of the murmurs and cheers surrounding her. Glancing around, she saw the people coming out from their hiding places, clapping slowly with looks of relief upon their faces. The clapping swelled into cheering, with whistles and shouts all aimed at her. She could feel her face growing red, and she looked around desperately for an escape route. People were moving in to congratulate her, although nervously, and she felt her face getting redder. She couldn't breathe – she wasn't used to all this attention. She had to get out.

Not noticing that she had banished her keyblade, she took off running, pushing through the cheering crowds and back out onto the busy street. She hailed the first taxi she could and crammed herself in through the door, praying that she had enough money left to get to Andalasia fashions.

As the driver pulled away from the cheering crowds and wove in and out of other cabs, Hikari felt more able to breathe. She had more room now, and her face slowly regained its normal colour. Thankfully the driver didn't try to start a conversation with her, so the short ride passed in silence.

When they got to the top of the high street, Hikari gave the driver enough for the journey and a little extra before calmly walking down the street, still somewhat paranoid that people were staring at her. Thankfully, news of the fight hadn't spread that far yet, and everybody seemed to look at her as they looked at everybody else (if they looked at all). For this, Hikari was grateful, and she was finally able to realise that it felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Since her first day in New York, she had felt strange, like a kind of tension that didn't go away, making her constantly on edge. She had thought it had been the nerves of a new world, but now she realised it must have been the invading darkness that haunted her every step.

With a small smile upon her face, Hikari walked into Andalasia fashions only half an hour after she should have been there. Giselle was with a little girl and her mother, talking to the elder while the younger showcased her apparently new blue satin dress. A little princess. Was that how Hikari should have grown up? Surrounded with dresses and jewels in a fantasy castle with rainbows and horses and large open fields, free to do whatever she wished?

Hikari shook the idea from her head; she wouldn't have been happy. As much as she disliked the situation she had at school, with few friends and teachers and family expecting too much of her, she didn't mind it that badly. She liked learning things, and school had managed to teach her to organise herself. Maybe when she found whatever world she should have ruled over, she would be able to manage it well and knowledgeably, if required. Maybe there was already a system of rulers over her world, and she would just be a figurehead. After all, the world had probably lasted this long without her, why would it and its people need her now?

"Hikari! You made it!" Giselle exclaimed, walking over. The girl and her mother were nowhere to be seen. "Bad traffic? It's okay, we've all been caught up in it a few times. But at least you're here now. Let's get these dresses finished!" Giselle lead her up the stairs to where the photo shoot had been only the day before yesterday. She said something to a woman coming down the stairs but continued on her way, leading Hikari up to what was now a rather plain area, with racks of dresses and small circular podiums about ten inches high.

The dress fitting was pretty much the same as the others, most of which had been done at the apartment. They went through all the dresses (there were now seven in total; Hikari wasn't sure how Giselle had done it, or how she could afford to let Hikari have them for free), all in different colours and slightly different styles. Some had puffy sleeves, some had large skirts than others, and Hikari stood patiently in each as Giselle nipped and tucked each seam to ensure the best fit. Surprisingly, the fitting was the easiest part of her day. Not that she had really expected to have a fight in the park.

*****

Arriving back at the apartment that night carrying all of her dresses in a small, inexpensive suitcase bought from a charity shop (Giselle and Robert had wanted to buy her something more durable and expensive, but she argued that they had already spent more than enough money on her), Hikari found Nancy waiting for her, telling her it was time to go back – King Mickey was waiting for her.

So she crammed her clothes into the suitcase and hugged Giselle goodbye. Robert told her that she was welcome back at any time, and Morgan looked the most upset to see her go.

"Bye, big sister," she said, almost crying. Hikari gave her a tight hug.

"It's okay, Morgan," she said, "we'll see each other again."

"But what if you forget about me with all your princess friends and parties?" she asked. Hikari giggled.

"Trust me, if I have a party, you'll be the first to be invited," she reassured. The two hugged tightly again before Hikari left with Nancy.

They walked through the city back towards the abandoned sewer line with Nancy asking questions that Hikari would give short answers to. She wasn't shy anymore, she was simply sad to be leaving. She had made good friends in Giselle, Robert and Morgan – almost like a second family. Giselle had treated her the same as Morgan; always asking about her day, asking what she fancied for dinner, where she was going, what she would be doing that day... It had been nice...

Travelling back through the strange portal wasn't anywhere near as exciting as going through it the first time. This time, the glittering, sparking pieces exploded from Hikari's skin, and she was propelled forwards, landing neatly on her feet at the opening of the well, where Mickey and Edward were waiting for them.

"Time to be moving on, Hikari," Mickey said brightly. "I've got the Gummi ship ready and waiting. We really do need to be getting on with this little adventure of ours, ha. It's not all fun and games anymore, I'm afraid." Nodding, Hikari turned to face Nancy and Edward.

"Thank you for having us," she said politely, bowing her head slightly. "And...I'm sorry. About your gardens, that is..." Edward chuckled.

"No need to worry about that," he said, waving the matter off with his hand. "The gardens are already back to their usual splendour. I would show you around, but I don't think you quite have the time." Nancy agreed before stepping forwards slightly, letting go of Edward's hand.

"Hikari," she started seriously, "what you did that night, when you defeated those heartless... Our castle and our world would be no more without your protection. You are welcome back at any time, and you will be welcomed with open arms. Our people know that you have the rights of any king or queen. You saved their lives, too, and they are indebted to you. If ever there comes a time where you need people to fight, they are willing to come to your aid." She smiled sadly and Hikari forced a smile back. Was that what her adventure was heading towards? Would it come to a war? She nodded.

"Thank you."

"No, Hikari," Edward interrupted, stepping next to his wife. "Thank _you_."

"Come on, Hikari, it's time to leave, I'm afraid," the king said. He stood next to Hikari and placed a gentle, gloved hand on her wrist. Edward and Nancy waved goodbye, and Hikari raised her free arm to wave back, but before she knew it, they were gone.

Well, more like Hikari was gone, as it seemed to be her surroundings that had changed, not only the company. Now she was inside what looked like a large, circular room, with two semi-circular sofas that sat opposite each other, around a circular glass table. There were blankets and pillows discarded over neatly over them, and they looked very comfortable, and tempting.

"This is the Gummi ship, Hikari," Mickey said heading towards one of the four doors placed like the points upon a compass. "Through here you can access the main pilot's quarters. For the time being, I'll be flying. Wouldn't want to put any more stress upon your shoulders." He continued walking around the room until he reached a door on the exact opposite side. "And through here, you can access the rest of the ship. The two rooms on the side are small bedrooms; yours is through here." He lead her through the door to the rest of the ship, and she was faced with a corridor, with a door on either side and one at the end.

"The door on your left is a kitchen – modest, but it does its job," he explained, "and the one on your right is a washroom. Then, straight ahead, is your room. I'll let you get acquainted with it. Feel free to take your time. When you get hungry, there's enough food in the kitchen. I would love to cook you something, but I'm afraid my culinary skills are less-than-stellar, and there are a few problems I wish to get ironed out with the ship. Oh, don't worry-" he added, noticing her expression, "-nothing serious. Minor problems that won't really affect us, they just annoy me." He laughed his little laugh before continuing. "Unfortunately, though, they could spread to bigger problems, which means that I will be unable to accompany you to the next world. But if you can handle yourself in Manhattan and your first real battle, then you'll be perfectly okay. There will be people down there willing to aid you." She nodded, about to turn to her room when something came to mind.

"Um, Mickey?" she asked quietly. He nodded at her for her to continue. "At the end of the fight, something strange happened. I was stood infront of the fountain in the park, and there was this glowing keyhole on the side of it. I didn't do anything, but the keyblade just kind of...reacted to it, I guess. There was this stream of gold and then it disappeared."

"And there was only a small symbol left?" he asked. She nodded and he smiled at her. "I thought I sensed it. You sealed the world, Hikari. Now no more heartless will get through. You not only saved Andalasia, you also saved Earth. Or, at least, that version."

"So there is a keyhole on my Earth as well?"

"Yes, but don't worry about it," he reassured her. "Until recently, even I was unaware of how to access your world, and I still haven't been there myself. It is highly unlikely that Maleficent even knows about it, let alone knows how to get there herself. And she will not look to there when she is so intent upon you." Hikari felt her heart skip a slight beat.

"Me?" she squeaked. Mickey nodded slowly.

"You are the strongest threat to her right now, apart from Disney Castle, which she can never gain access to," he explained. "And she is not after you to kill you; not yet, anyway. She seeks for you to join her forces. If she can get inside your mind, behind your defences, and make her yours, she will be the most powerful being in all the galaxies. She will only desire to kill you if you refuse her."

"Well I won't accept," Hikari remarked. "So, either way, she'll want me dead sooner or later."

"Yes, which is why I have planned a route for us. You will train with many people, amongst many worlds, and we shall keep you as secret as possible. The less Maleficent knows about you, the better. I would rather she thought you were weak when you were strong," he explained. "But for now, relax. Go to your room and settle in. I'll show you the rest of the ship another time, and answer all your questions, too." He turned on his heel and walked away, back to the circular room. Hikari didn't watch him go through the door; instead she turned and entered what was to be her room for the duration of her stay amongst the ship. Her hand on the doorknob, she realised that she couldn't feel the tide moving the ship as it should have, but the thoughts were ripped from her head by the room.

It was almost triangular in shape, with a four-poster bed straight opposite the door. There were two windows, one on either of the side walls, and through them she could see strange shapes – spheres and squares and rings – flying past, a blur of colourful shapes. She would look at that later. Down the left wall there was a dresser with a mirror, and next to it were two chests of drawers, and on the right wall was a tall wardrobe with two sets of tall shelves. Everything was bare except the bed, which was made immaculately, and was decorated in a variety of complimentary, pastel shades.

Hikari slowly walked over to the bed and placed her suitcase down. She flipped the lid open and stared down at her dresses. Most of them were in shades of pastel colours, some that glittered, some that shone, but all of them with large skirts and elegant bodices. One by one, she took them out and placed them on hangers in the wardrobe. She hadn't really admired them whilst being fitted, but now she could see that her choices were varied and beautiful.

After she had hung all seven, she folded up the remaining clothes into the drawers, neatly grouping items together – trousers in one drawer, skirts in another, shoes placed in pairs on the dual-level shoe rack attached to the side. Turning back to the suitcase, she noticed a large, white envelope – about the size of an A4 piece of paper – lying at the bottom, with her name written in an elegant hand. Perching on the edge of the bed, Hikari picked the envelope up and opened it. Taking out it thick contents, she was surprised to see pictures of herself. Judging by the dress and the background, she could only assume that they had been taken at the photo shoot. Most of them were the ones for the magazine; pictures of her standing and posing like the other models had, smiling and moving the skirt so that the under layers could be seen. But the few at the end were her favourites.

Hikari had kept her dress on after the shoot, not changing back to normal clothes as she knew she would have to be fitted for her own dresses, and Morgan was still wearing her last dress. The photographer had been the last person to pack away his things, and it became obvious now that the delay was because he was busy taking more pictures. Of Hikari and Morgan, interacting like sisters. Hikari stared at one picture where Morgan was on her back, arms wrapped around her neck, and Hikari had her arms wrapped around the younger girl's legs. She was strongly reminded of a picture that Hikari had back home. She had been younger than Morgan, and Taichi had given her a piggy back ride home. Their mother had snapped the shot and framed it – it still sat in the middle of the mantel place in the front room. Maybe Morgan had meant more than just words when she called Hikari her "big sister".

Dinner with Mickey was uneventful. Hikari found something in the cupboards and offered to cook for the both of them, and they ate in silence. Hikari had thousands of questions jumping around her head, and Mickey constantly looked as though he wanted to say something, as he would draw in a breath, pause and then take another mouthful of food, deciding against the action. When dinner was finished, Hikari turned in for the night; she was too tired to stay awake. Mickey nodded and told her that they would be arriving in a new world sometime in the morning, so he would wake her just before they arrived. Thanking him, she retired to bed.

It was soft, comfortable and warm, and within moments, Hikari was asleep, dreaming about princesses and dresses and magnificent ballrooms filled with string quartets and merry dancers.

*****

The next morning, Hikari was up and about early, but having no form of clock with her, she wasn't sure how early, and she couldn't hear Mickey moving around the ship yet. Deciding it might be too early, she got up quietly and moved around her new room, dressing in a pair of three-quarter length trousers and a plain t-shirt. Deciding she needed something to do, she quickly tested her chest of drawers on the floor; they moved silently. And so, in what Hikari could only assume to be the early hours of the morning, she rearranged the room, moving the empty shelves next to the dresser and the chest of drawers where the shelves had been. Then she moved a pillow to cushion her rear against the hard top of the chest of drawers, took the top, fleece blanket from the bed and sat curled up, leaning against the wall and the wardrobe, sat on the chest of drawers, staring out of the circular window in the wall, watching the shapes go by.

After a few moments, less than a minute, she assumed, she decided she definitely wasn't in a normal kind of ship – the kind that rode the waves of the open seas. Wherever she was, there wasn't a speck of water in sight outside the window. Instead only the same strange shapes she had seen the night before – the spinning rings, rolling spheres and glistening, distant stars, all sparkling like diamonds.

She didn't know how long she sat there, watching the shapes go by, but long after she had drifted into a trance-like state a gentle knocking brought her out of her reverie.

"Come in," she called, turning to face the door. Mickey entered carrying a tray of food. He looked towards the bed, confused for a moment, and then caught sight of Hikari by the window. Realising that not only did he have food, but he seemed like he wanted to talk about something. Slowly, she tried to push herself up with her arms so she could walk towards the bed, but her arms and legs were tangled in the fleece blanket, and whilst trying to untangle herself, the pillow beneath her rear slipped sideways towards the wall, and Hikari fell to the ground, landing awkwardly on her shoulder. She heard Mickey gasp and hurry to put the tray down before rushing to help her. She noticed a light smile upon his face as he did so.

"Sorry," she muttered, "I'm not the most co-ordinated person in the mornings." Together, they got her out of the blankets and over to the bed, where she saw that breakfast consisted of a bowl of cereal and two slices of toast. Mickey laughed slightly.

"I'm sorry, I'm not the best cook," he apologised. She shook her head, smiling.

"This is fine, thank you," she replied, started to eat. Mickey sat on the opposite side of the bed, not touching the offered food.

"I'm afraid there have been a few...complications," he said calmly, avoiding her gaze. She looked at him, concerned. She nodded for him to continue. "Nothing dangerous, just a few technical hitches that mean I won't be able to accompany you to the next world. But don't worry, the people there have met travellers like yourself before. They'll be all to happy to help you." Hikari nodded and Mickey stood.

"Well I'll let you finish your breakfast in peace," he said. "When you're ready to go, just come and find me in the main room, where we arrived yesterday." That said, he ducked out of the room, closing the door silently behind him.

Hikari finished her breakfast by the window, this time without the pillow or blanket, which she replaced in their correct places when she was finished eating. Mindlessly, she took the tray of dirty dishes through to the kitchen, washing them and then finding their homes in the right cupboards. When she was finished, she returned to her room and took a hair bobble, placing it around her wrist in case she wanted to tie her hair back (it still surprised her when she looked in the mirror and it was curly with streaks of red) and she grabbed a jacket, just in case she got cold. Taking a sensible pair of trainers, she slipped them onto her feet and walked through to the main room.

Mickey sat on one of the semi-circular sofas, hunched over what looked like blueprints, probably of the ship. Closing the door silently behind her did not make Mickey look up, and there was an uncomfortable silence until Hikari decided to start a conversation.

"We're not at sea, are we?" Mickey looked up, confused for a moment, and she elaborated. "I mean, this isn't a real ship – like a boat. We're not at sea we're...somewhere else, right?" He nodded, eyes sparkling.

"Well deduced," he said happily, sitting up straighter. "We are in fact travelling through the space between worlds. It's kind of odd, really, but it's kind of like parallel universes, all spread out like a galaxy. Each one going on and on, fixed around a particular event or a handful of people, and all at the vulnerability of Maleficent." He smiled at her. "But this is a story for another time. Right now, we're hovering over a place called Neverland. Once you get there, you'll need to ask for Peter. Oh, and I would avoid any adults if I were you."

"What do you mean?" she asked, or at least started to, but she was interrupted by her world suddenly shifting. No longer in the main room of the elaborate Gummi ship, now she was surrounded by trees and clean air and birdsong, with a cool, salty breeze blowing through her hair. She could hear the sea in the distance, and she took a deep breath, revelling in the playful, carefree attitude that washed over her. What she wouldn't give to run into the waves and splash someone – anyone, really – or go hide in the skull-shaped cove in the distance, or run so fast she could fly.

"GET HER!"

Before she could turn around to see who was shouting, she was flung forward, a weight on her shoulders. Something hit her over the head, and she gasped in pain, tasting the grass underneath her, before she sank deep into unconsciousness.

*****

Pebbles: Okay, so I've started drawing Hikari's dresses (yes, I got bored). And my drawing skills aren't the best, especially when it comes to stylised drawings (such as Disney-princess-esque style), but soon they will be posted on my DeviantArt account. I will put a link to my account in the reference points when the first pictures are posted. Need to find time to sneak into the art rooms and scan and photoshop the colour in and stuff though... =]

**REFERENCE POINTS:**

So no dresses, or links, but hey, watch this video:

http:// www . youtube . com / watch?v=XGu9yxdbFio&feature=related

**REVIEW RESPONSES:**

**dracula-key: **Oh yeah, they'll be in it all right. I had plans from the offset that I was going to have them involved. I'm not really one to write a crossover where I replace the characters instead of involve them, if you get me. And thanks for the support; it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

Nobody added this story to their Favourites list this time.

Thanks to **CelticHero**for adding this story to their Alert list!

Pebbles: So, here we are, with the update. Remember, guys, every other week, I haven't abandoned you. And I notice now that they have a separate section for crossovers. I'm going to have a look at how difficult it would be to move this story – I'll let you know if I decide to do it. If it means re-uploading every chapter then NO. I won't. But if I can just change the category, I might. But I dunno; would that mean you would all have to re-fav/re-alert this story under the new category?

Ah well.

P.S: Had a audition today!! Will tell you what it's for (and if I know if I have the part) next time.

P.P.S: I *WILL NOT* be updating on Friday 1st May – I'm camping to celebrate Beltane. 

P.P.P.S: I found out my grandfather died Tuesday. He'd been suffering for a while with Alzheimer's and other things, and as cruel as it sounds, I'm somewhat glad he's gone. It will be stress off the family, but still it's flesh and blood. This means that my updates may be a little irregular over the next few weeks while we sort out the funeral. Sorry guys.


	8. Lost

Pebbles: So...do you like waffles?

Okay, so I embarrassed myself so much at the talent show. But hey, at least know EVERYONE knows I'm a prat, not just my friends. Woo!

**APOLOGY TIME!!**

Okay, I am so sorry you've had to wait so long for this chapter. But things with my grandfather's funeral just threw me off completely, and when I got back it was straight into revision for exams. I've just had my last one today, thankfully got them out of the way early, so now I can get back to writing again. I'm so sorry this has taken so long.

Now my exams are over, I will be writing more, but it's not all fun and games for me now – now I'm pulling double shifts at work and working extra days, and inbetween I'm trying to get fit, so I'm swimming every other day. So I'll be writing when I can, and I'll still be aiming to update **EVERY OTHER FRIDAY**.

(Oh, funny story!! I finished the chapter Friday night just over 2 weeks ago, kept checking my inbox for reviews, none came, I thought it was odd but maybe you were all angry with me.... I hadn't posted the chapter online. SOOOOO to make up for this heneios oversight on my part, **I will be updating again THIS FRIDAY**!!)

**(**_Another funny story_** - I posted chapter 10 before chapter 9, so if the story didn't make sense, apologies. This chapter should help.)**

Thanks for sticking with me. :D

Oh, and for those interested - the audition I mentioned was for Peter Pan, I auditioned for Wendy. I didn't get it, so I think I'll take another year out of drama to focus on my school work.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, any of the Disney characters, places or products, or any of the Digimon characters, places or products. However, I will claim to own the concept of this story.

*****

**Lost**

*****

Wow; her head hurt. It was a horrible, throbbing pain that trickled down her spine like syrup, sticking to everything it touched and spreading out from there. And slowly – very slowly.

"She's so old!" a voice whispered.

"Yeah, but she's got no sword, see?" another replied.

"And no wooden leg!"

"Not all of them have wooden legs, Cubby!"

"Well, ya never know!"

"I like her; she looks like a lady," a younger voice said quietly.

"But she's wearing trousers! Ladies don't wear trousers! They wear skirts and frilly things!"

"Quiet, boys, she's awake."

Deciding there was no more reason to try and fake sleep, she cautiously opened her eyes and came face to face with a boy – probably about ten years old – dressed in green. A green top with jagged edges along the bottom and the sleeves, and a green cap with a single, red feather in it. His blue eyes stared at her, and he tilted his head to the left and then to the right. She stayed silent during the inspection, waiting for him to speak first, aware that she was tied up. Finally, the boy broke the silence.

He drew back suddenly, fists on his hips as he towered over her.

"Well, she's not a grown up!" he exclaimed. The boys behind him – all dressed in different animal suits – cheered. "But-" The boys stopped "-We don't know who she is!"

"Maybe she's a spy!"

"Or a traitor!"

"Maybe Hook sent her! Maybe she's going to reveal our secret hiding place!" The boys suddenly huddled together, only the green-clad boy remaining, still scrutinizing her. With a flash, the boys suddenly had weapons of all types pointed at her.

"Stop!" the boy in the hat exclaimed as the others started to advance upon her. Hikari stared at them with wide eyes; the tips on those arrows were sharp, as were the swords. The boys froze in place, looking at him in shock.

"But, Peter-" the one dressed as a brown rabbit started, but the boy, Peter, interrupted with a silencing hand. He leant in again and now started to touch her – picking at her clothes and inspecting her fingernails. Finally, with a smile, he ruffled her hair, to which Hikari protested.

"Hey!" Peter laughed.

"Don't you see, boys?" he asked. "She's like Sora!" The boys excitedly whispered the name to each other, and Hikari suddenly couldn't shake the image of Sora from her world, with her short red-brown hair and her blue-grey eyes wearing an animal costume – most likely a bird.

"But she might be like the Wendy lady!" one of the two in raccoon costumes – there were two of them; identical down to their mannerisms – exclaimed. "Maybe she knows stories!" The boys echoed his excitement as they dropped their weapons and rushed forwards, surrounding her.

"What stories do you know?" one asked.

"Do you know any good games?" asked another.

"What about pirates? Do you like pirates?"

"Don't ask her that! Nobody likes pirates!"

"What about fairies?"

"Yeah, fairies!"

"Where's Tink?"

"Tink!"

"Tink, where are you?" Suddenly the boys were running away again, searching for something, or someone, judging by the way they were calling. Maybe a fairy?

Hikari was vaguely aware that she was now untied, and she stood away from her restraints; she had been tied against a tree, and the ropes were now gathered around the bottom. Turning, Hikari saw Peter looking at her, and then suddenly he was right infront of her.

"What's your name?" he asked, curiously, leaning in until his nose was less than an inch away from hers. She leant backwards slowly.

"Uh... H-Hikari," she stammered, shocked. Her head still hurt. "And you're Peter, right?"

"That's me," he said proudly, darting backwards, fists on his hips again. "Peter Pan! That's who I am!" And then, like a bullet, he shot up into the air.

Hikari staggered back – he was flying! She watched as he looped in the air and disappeared behind a cloud, only to come rushing down towards the ground again. She screamed – surely he would kill himself! – but at the last possible moment he righted himself, hovering a few inches off the floor. She stared at him open-mouthed for a moment.

"You're...you're flying...I mean, you're not flying now but you flew," she said quietly. He cocked his head to the side, confused.

"And you can't?" he asked. She shook her head – no. "But then how did you get here? You're too old to have fallen out of your pram, and you're a girl – much too clever – so how are you here?" Hikari paused, unsure of how to answer.

Suddenly her answer didn't matter as the boys rushed back into the small clearing, one boy leading with something gold and glowing inbetween his clasped hands.

"We got her, Peter! We got her!" they chorused at different times and speeds and pitches, causing an instant racket as they stumbled through the bushes.

"Well, let her free then!" Peter ordered. The boy opened his hands and suddenly a glowing ball of light, followed by a trail of shimmer gold, flew upwards, flying around the boys and pinching their ears and tugging their hair before landing on a leaf, its actions accompanied by the loveliest sound of tinkling bells.

When she stopped flying, the light dimmed, and Hikari could see that it was a little person – a tiny woman with a green, ragged, strapless dress, blonde hair in a bun and a pair of dainty, translucent wings. Hikari took a gentle step forwards and looked at the fairy with interest. She was so pristine, her skin glowing a gentle, white-gold. The fairy turned to face her and stared at her; Hikari remained perfectly still, scared the fairy would fly away if she breathed. But then the little person started nodding and grinning, and again Hikari heard the tinkling of beautiful bells.

"Ha, she likes you," Peter exclaimed, hovering next to Hikari. Tink nodded again and suddenly flew around Hikari, who straightened at the sudden movement. Glittering dust showered Hikari hair and shoulders, and she felt her body tingling, but not in the same way that it did when leaving Andalasia. She sneezed – it was like pepper. She tried to brush it off, but it remained, sinking into her skin. She turned to Peter, confused.

"Pixie dust," he said, as if that explained everything. When she didn't reply, he continued. "You need to learn how to fly, if you're going to be one of us, and I'll have to teach you." Suddenly the boys, having just realised what had been said, suddenly started protesting.

"But Peter!"

"She's a girl!"

Peter cut them off with a hand, turning his back to Hikari.

"If I say she's one of us, then she's one of us! Come on, boys, we need another mother!" The last part was said more like a plea than an order.

"Mother?" Hikari asked as the word registered. "But I'm too young to be-"

"But Peter," the one in the bear costume said nervously, "I thought mothers didn't play. I thought they stayed at home to darn socks and sing us to sleep."

"Not this one," he said, gesturing to Hikari. He turned back to her. "What games do you know?"

"Uh, games?" she questioned.

"Yeah! Like Hide and Seek!" the twins asked, one echoing slightly after the other.

"Or Snakes in the Grass!" another boy exclaimed.

"How about Pirates and Indians?" the chubby boy from before asked.

"Nah, we played that yesterday!" the twins answered.

"We could play Tag?" Hikari suggested meekly. The boys, including Peter, stared at her, heads cocked sideways in unspoken curiosity. Feeling slightly braver, Hikari straightened up and started to explain.

"Well, when the game begins, one person is 'it', and they have to try and get somebody else to be 'it'. They do this by touching them, like on the arm or the shoulder, and then that person..."

The explanation lasted the better part of an hour, and Hikari felt exhausted afterwards. The boys had many questions, all of which Hikari answered as patiently as she could. They seemed a little hesitant and, seeing she was done, were probably about to suggest something else, but Peter spoke first.

"A brilliant game! Come on boys, she's 'it'!" With that, he took off into the sky and flew away, and the boys rushed away from her, all trying to find somewhere to hide. Before she could object, she was left alone in the clearing, with no idea of her surroundings.

"Help..." she whispered quietly, sitting down on a nearby rock. She rested her head in her hands and frowned – this wasn't how she had hoped it would turn out. She had assumed that these were the people supposed to help her, as Mickey had said, but now that they had left her by herself, she wasn't so sure.

She heard a gentle tinkling of bells and she looked up slightly. She recoiled at the sight of Tinkerbelle nearly standing on the tip of her nose, and the sudden movement threw her off balance, making her land on the flat of her back on the ground, legs still resting on the rock. The bells sounded again as the most beautiful of laughs, and the fairy flitted closer. Once her figure was visible, she motioned for Hikari to follow her and flew off in the direction of the deep grass. Hikari slowly rose to her feet and rushed after the little fairy, careful not to trip over anything hidden in the foliage.

She ran for quite a while, following the little, golden light, and then suddenly, Tinkerbelle stopped and motioned for Hikari to be quiet and stay where she was. Hikari stopped and watched as the golden light flew slightly further forwards and then seemed to dance up and down in the air. Hikari's brow furrowed as she tried to figure out the meaning to the cryptic message, and she guessed Tinkerbelle had found one of the boys. Slowly, Hikari crept through the grass, creeping forwards until she saw the back of the boy in the bear costume. Smiling, she lunged for him, tapping his shoulder and shouting, "You're it!" He turned to face her, surprised, and she only smiled and ran off. She heard laughing bells as Tinkerbelle caught up to her, and then took the lead, taking Hikari to a hiding place.

The day continued in this way. The boys, with their superior hunting skills, managed to always find Hikari and tag her, but with Tinkerbelle's help, it wasn't long before Hikari was tagging someone else, and so the game would continue. She didn't think about how odd it was that she didn't feel tired or hungry, she simply focused on the game, hiding and tagging until the sun set, and she wearily followed Tinkerbelle to a hollowed tree.

*****

His peers might have laughed at the situation, he assumed. In fact, they probably wouldn't have believed him, and would have forced him to sit down with books and notes and study. But Taichi was confident that he would pass his test tomorrow; he had been revising throughout the year, and felt the information secured in his mind. Lying on the sofa, listening to his music through his headphones, he nodded to himself. Yes, the test would go well tomorrow.

He closed his eyes, listening intently to the new melodies in his collection. Yamato had sent another demo CD to him (the blonde, now out of high school, was secured in a well-payed job and working avidly towards getting his band in the charts) and Taichi had to admit that it was definitely good. Some of the melodies were a little darker than usual, but on the other hand, some of them were much lighter and more energetic. This particular track, however, seemed to have a strange, offbeat buzzing noise accompanying it.

Opening his eyes, Taichi glanced over to the coffee table in the middle of the room and noticed his mobile crawling slowly across the table as the screen lit up periodically. Taking out his headphones, he sat up and reached over. He didn't recognised the number, but he answered anyway. Probably someone calling from a payphone or something.

"Taichi?" a voice asked, scared. He knew that voice – it was his mother's.

"Mum, what's wrong?" he asked, leaning forwards. His mother's worried tone sent shivers down his spine; what had happened?

"Have you heard from Hikari recently?" she asked. Taichi felt an icy grip claw his stomach.

"No," he said softly. Please let this be a prank, he pleaded, please let this be a joke...

"She's missing," her mother answered, and Taichi felt his breath catch. Slowly, he leant backwards, trying to keep his composure, and he ran a hand over his face in an attempt to reset his features.

"Are you sure?" he asked finally. He heard his mother sob lightly.

"Yes," she answered. "I phone her at home on Monday, like we always do when we're away, but there was no answer. I tried her mobile, but it was out of signal range, and I tried the friends that we knew the numbers of. Miyako and Daisuke haven't seen her since the last day of term. Nobody knows where she is..." She broke down completely now, and Taichi ached to be with her, to comfort her and tell her everything was going to be all right.

He heard a rustle on the connection, and then his father spoke.

"Taichi, you're only a drive away," he said. "A long drive, yes, but you'll get there sooner than we will. Please, Taichi, if you get time, see if you can find her." Taichi nodded, still clutching the phone to his ear.

"Of course," he replied, "I'll go tomorrow. She'll be around. She's probably kept to herself the last few days – you know how she gets sometimes."

"Thank you, Taichi," his father said.

They said their goodbyes and Taichi slammed his phone shut, leaning forwards against and resting his head in his hands, and his elbows on his knees. Where could she be? An idea struck him and he rushed to his laptop, firing it up. He wished it would start faster. As soon as it was ready, he opened the communications programme which would let him get in contact with anybody on the "digital" network. He typed in the access code for Gennai and waited patiently.

Nothing happened.

With a growl of anger he tried again, doing his best to keep calm. There was a high chance with Hikari missing that it was something digital related, and his current lack of contact with Gennai was slowly proving his theory right.

_Please be okay, Hikari_, he begged. _Please..._

*****

Sleeping in Peter's den had been a strange experience. To get in, you had to slide through a hollowed trunk attached to the main, hollow log. Then there were numerous ways to get down, depending on who's entrance you took – come went down in hammocks on pulley systems, others had ladders and others just skidded across the floor. Then you had to pass under a pond with a transparent bottom, and Hikari had been unnerved by the fishes staring at her. Thankfully there had been a spare bed and Tinkerbelle had shown it to her, warding off any of the boys who tried to collapse into it. Hikari had wanted nothing more than to go straight to sleep, the activities of the day had finally caught up with her and she was exhausted, but the boys wanted to stay awake and hear a story. She couldn't think of any to begin with – she had never been that great of a story teller in the first place – so she made one up, about a daring prince who didn't want to be king. Peter especially had seemed like that story.

Hikari had had a fitful night's sleep – the bed felt...strange; comfortable and yet not at the same time. She had then been woken early to the announcement that they were going on a treasure hunt. Too asleep to remember breakfast (not that she seemed to feel any form of hunger), Hikari followed them, crawling out of the den and mindlessly following behind. She noticed Peter swooping ahead of them with a map in hand. He suddenly plopped through the trees, stopping them in their tracks.

"I've buried the treasure somewhere near Cannibal Cove," he said proudly. "First one to find it, wins!" He then disappeared back into the trees, and Hikari watched as all the boys ran in different directions, as if Cannibal Cove could be anywhere. She immediately turned to Tinkerbelle who was perching on a leaf nearby, and the little fairy jumped to her feet before floating gracefully towards Hikari. She took hold of Hikari's t-shirt and started dragging her through the grass. She released Hikari after a second, and Hikari took the hint to keep following her.

They ran through the grass and the trees for a long time before coming to a wide river. Hikari groaned at the sight of it – the current looked too strong to swim against, and I looked too deep to wade across. Hikari watched as Tinkerbelle flew straight across, stopping on the other side. She turned to look at Hikari and bobbed up and down, motioning, but she was too far away for Hikari to make out the action. Hikari shrugged, not wanting to shout over the roaring river. Tinkerbelle instead flew back over to her and flew around her, leaving a trail of dust that, like the first time, soaked into Hikari's skin, tingling slightly. Tinkerbelle then hovered infront of Hikari's face and started to motion again.

First she pointed to her mouth and grinned widely, and then she tapped the side of her head. Hikari cocked her head to the side.

"Smiling head?" she guessed wildly. Tinkerbelle frowned and tapped Hikari on the nose harshly. Hikari winced and watched Tinkerbelle motion again.

"Uhm...happy?" she asked at Tinkerbelle's grin. The fairy nodded and then grinned, pointed to it, and then pointed to her head.

"Happy...thoughts?" Hikari tried again, and Tinkerbelle nodded vigorously. She then tapped her head, pointed to her grin, and tapped her head again. Hikari frowned.

"Uh...Think happy thoughts?" she asked, not being able to think of any other options. Tinkerbelle nodded again, and then repeated the action followed by an imitation of somebody rising into the air for the first time. On a whim, Hikari suggested, "Think happy thoughts and I'll fly?" At this, Tinkerbelle nodded, obviously overjoyed.

Hikari shook her head at the notion. Flying was impossible-

_But Peter can do it._

The thought made her overactive brain stop. Peter _could_ fly – it defied all the laws of physics and nature and others she couldn't name, but he could do it. He did. It shouldn't be possible, but he made it possible. Perhaps...

Hikari closed her eyes to compose herself and started to think. Happy thoughts...happy thoughts... She thought of her friends, all the happy memories they had had together. She ignored all the times they had ignored her, all the times she had planned for a reunion and nobody had turned up. She focused on the good times. She focused on Gatomon, her digital partner, and all the times they had laughed, in more innocent times before Hikari knew about other worlds and the raging darkness. She thought of Kurokiba, and how at peace she had felt with him when they had just sat in the other's presence.

Hikari felt a tap on her shoulder and she gingerly opened her eyes. With a gasp, she glanced downwards and noticed she was hovering at least ten feet off the ground, maybe more, and she only seemed to be rising. She let out an elated giggle – flying was euphoric! With a seemingly innate understanding of how it worked, she kicked the air slightly, as though swimming, and found herself flying forwards more than she expected. She giggled again; this was beautiful. Neverland looked even more appealing from the air.

Tinkerbelle flew next to her, constantly covering her in pixie dust, and Hikari felt her confidence growing. Within moments, she was gliding over the trees and flying up river, letting her hand trail in the water. She couldn't get over the natural high that came from flying, and she closed her eyes as she flew on her back through the air, letting the feeling fill her from head to toe.

The sound of beautiful bells brought her from her reverie and she glanced over to Tinkerbelle, who looked somewhat annoyed. Hikari blushed sheepishly, mumbling an apology. They were supposed to be on a treasure hunt; this was not the time for Hikari to be wasting time gliding through the air.

Tinkerbelle shot off towards the coast (Hikari could just make out the glimmering blue of the ocean over the trees) and Hikari followed. They're progress was quicker now that Hikari was no watching out for vines or tripping hazards, and soon they came to the coast.

Hikari could have guessed Cannibal Cove without Tinkerbelle's help – it was a giant cave in the side of a tall cliff, with a seemingly-natural appearance of a skull on the front. Hikari and Tinkerbelle flew through one of the eyes and Hikari gasped at the shining chest of treasure sat on a mound of sand. She circled lower and placed her feet on the ground, but as she tried to walk forwards, she found herself gliding along the surface, still flying. She turned to Tinkerbelle.

"How do I get down?" she asked, wanting now to walk. Tinkerbelle thought for a moment before jumping into another mime. She pulled the saddest face possible and pointed to it before tapping her head, and Hikari understood instantly.

"Sad thoughts," she said, and Tinkerbelle nodded. Hikari didn't need to search far to find sad thoughts. Kurokiba's betrayal was still a fresh wound, and so was the lack of contact with her friends. She hadn't spoken to her brother in a long time, and she hadn't spent proper time with her parents for even longer.

She found her feet solidly on the ground again and she pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind. She felt upset now, and even though she wanted to celebrate winning the treasure hunt, she found that she couldn't.

Hikari heard tingling bells, and she glanced over to Tinkerbelle. She jumped up at the sight – Tinkerbelle was stuck inside a glass jar, being held by a strange pirate-like form. It was mostly black with a red bandana and other pirate attire. An army of Kurokiba-like heartless stood behind it and, without any form of signal, suddenly surged forwards, attacking Hikari with a vigour.

She didn't know how it appeared in her hands, but she knew that the instant she started to swing towards a heartless, the keyblade was there, slicing through the being and turning it to black smoke. Others came and Hikari defeated them. It was just like the park in New York, but in a more enclosed space and with less people watching.

Realising, she didn't have to worry about spectators, Hikari felt something inside of her grow. It was a mix between rage, anger and ultimate control. Suddenly the keyblade was an extension of her body; she was so at east with it, it might as well have been attached to her hand since birth. For a few minutes, not a single heartless got close enough to touch her, and Hikari revelled in the adrenaline. She had a gut feeling this would never get old.

She glanced to her left and noticed a large group of heartless charging at her. She looked to her right for a way to get out, but another group came from that direction. There were two more groups, one from infront and one from behind. Knowing she would be unable to fight them on the ground, she closed her eyes and jumped into the air, focusing on her happy thoughts. When her feet didn't return to the ground again, Hikari opened her eyes and stared downwards, watching as the heartless headed for a collision they couldn't possibly avoid.

"_Thunder_!" she cried, keyblade high above her head. The bolts of lightning struck the ground and most of the heartless disappeared, turning to smoke. Landing back on the ground, Hikari started to attack with the keyblade again. Their numbers seemed to be down to less than a quarter now, and there didn't seem to be reinforcements. This would be easier than her last encounters with them.

The small, black bodies kept rushing towards her, and for each wave she was able to execute a number of moves that wiped them out, and she would stand ready for the next attackers, who charged as eagerly as the ones before. Hikari became lost in her own actions; she felt as though she were nothing more than a keyblade with a person attached. There was a certain sense of calm that came over her as she struck and lunged, destroying more and more heartless as she continued to defend herself. Something in her mind told her that she was no longer on the defence – now the heartless seemed to be protecting themselves from her. The power running through her veins was a mix of adrenaline and something else – something stronger than anything she'd ever felt before.

She swung her keyblade and paused when she realised it didn't hit anything. Returning to her senses, she looked around and noticed that not a single heartless remained. There were no black bodies and no black smoke. By the entrance of the cave, the little glass jar sat half-buried in the sand. Hikari rushed over to it and picked it up, opening the glass door. Grateful, Tinkerbelle flew around Hikari a few times, revelling in the freedom, before landing on Hikari's shoulders. Hikari was quite shocked that she didn't feel anything, as though the fairy wasn't even there.

Hikari's head shot up at a crowing sound – half rooster, half war-cry. Peter flew from a hiding place down towards her, stopping infront of her and hovering about five inches off the floor. He smiled a playful smile at her.

"Looks like you won," he declared. "Tough luck, boys!" At this, the lost boys crept from their hiding places, looking around cautiously. Hikari remained silent – there wasn't anything she could think of saying. Instead she watched as Peter flew to the barely closed chest and opened it. More fold spilt around it as he rummaged through, trying to find something. Finally, he thrust his hand into the air with a triumphant cry of, "found it!" Hikari stared at the object, it was a plain but beautiful silver tiara. There were no jewels, but it shimmed in the light as though studded with thousands of tiny diamonds. Peter flew over to Hikari and placed the tiara on her head. He bowed and the boys followed suit.

"All hail Princess Hikari," Peter announced, "the first lost girl!"

*****

Pebbles: Again, so sorry this was late. Does this make up for it? I hope so. The other chapter should be on time. I've got most of it written!! 

**REFERENCE POINTS:**

List of heartless (You can find the pirate described in the chapter on here):

http :// www . khinsider . com / chain-of-memories /

**REVIEW RESPONSES:**

**dracula-key:** Thank you. Just saying that means a lot to me. 

**Aster Selene:** I think so, but at the time when I started posting it, I didn't know there was a crossover option, and I'm reluctant to move it now.

Nobody added this to their Favourites list this time =[.

Nobody added this to their Alert list this time =[.

(Many thanks to **devilwanab** for adding me as a favourite author! That means a lot =] )

Pebbles: So, not much to say this time. I'm working on another side story for when I get writers block, but I'm not posting until this one is finished. See you in the next chapter!!!


	9. You Can Fly!

Pebbles: [Any comments]

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, any of the Disney characters, places or products, or any of the Digimon characters, places or products. However, I will claim to own the concept of this story.

*****

**You Can Fly!**

*****

Flying was like a drug, Hikari decided as she felt the breeze dance with her hair. It was an addictive habit and, now, Hikari seemed to be flying everywhere, even walk-able distances. She could see now why Peter's feet rarely touched the ground – flying was too exhilarating to give up!

She was currently following Peter as he took her on a tour of the island. They had spent the morning hunting Indians, although close to midday it had been the Indians chasing them. Hikari had found a good friend in the chief's daughter, Tiger Lily, who had taught Hikari a traditional Indian dance. She had listened to their music for a while until Peter had pulled her away, leading her to "more interesting things", or so he claimed.

Hikari took a deep breath at the beauty she saw below as they flew past the edge of the forest. The woodland stopped to reveal a beautiful lagoon, complete with crystal blue waters and perfectly grey rocks with beautiful figures perched atop them. As they drew closer, Hikari realised that these figures were all female, and upon further inspection, that they were all mermaids. Their tails, covered in glistening, jewel-like scales, lay across the rocks, shimmering in the sun, and their hair (although different shades of blonde, brown and red) all shone with the same mesmerising brightness.

Peter blew into his pan pipes as he descended – a habit he commonly did, as though announcing his own arrival. The mermaids looked up and, upon seeing him, took turns to welcome him almost seductively. Now closed, Hikari could see their torsos were naked – there were no seashell bikinis, as expected. Instead they were kept decent in a number of different ways. One had two starfish, another used her hair, trailing the thick, red locks down her chest, and a third had been trying to fix a pair of seashells together, but upon seeing Peter she dove into the water, only her head and shoulders remaining visible.

Peter effortlessly hovered over a rock for a moment, taking the time to cross his legs and sit in the air before lowing himself to sit on something more solid. Hikari was slightly less graceful, and she finally managed to drop out of the air onto a smaller rock nearby, almost ending up in the water.

"Oh, Peter," one mermaid sighed, "why do you always go away for so long? We all miss you terribly." Peter laughed.

"I had to," he replied, "I had an adventure!" At this, the mermaids seemed to perk up, and they inched closer to Peter's rock.

"Go on," the redhead pleaded, "do tell us about it." Peter grinned, obviously wanting nothing more than to recount a story about himself. Hikari, having gained her balance upon the rock, remained silent to listen.

"Well, it all started when I went to rescue Wendy from-"

"Oh, _that _girl," the blonde scoffed, checking her reflection in a handheld mirror. "I'm so glad she's gone. You didn't visit as much when she was here." Peter shrugged, ready to continue, but was interrupted by the third mermaid.

"And look!" she moaned, pointing at Hikari. "He's gone and brought another one!" The other mermaids looked Hikari with curiosity that soon turned to envy, and Peter looked as though he had forgotten she was with him. Hikari shifted uncomfortably at their gazes.

"Oh, Peter, you seem to be developing an endless line of wretched girls!" the first exclaimed, folding her arms over her chest and putting. "Where do you get them from?" Peter laughed and flew over to hover by Hikari.

"She's part of my adventure," he answered. "Just yesterday, she helped me save Cannibal Cove from invasion!" Hikari didn't bother to inform the mermaids that, in fact, she had done everything whilst Peter and the Lost Boys had hidden; from what she knew of Peter so far, he was the leader, and therefore everything have to be about him, or at least related in some way to how brave he was. At the mermaids' requests, Peter told them about the events of the previous day from his perspective, starting with waking up early to plant the treasure chest. Hikari slowly sat down on the rock sometime during the storytelling and listened, a little less avidly than the mermaids.

*****

Koushiro Izumi was glad he had been raised to be patient. He didn't curse of fidget whilst waiting to get off the plane; he didn't swear at the ten minutes wait for his baggage, nor at the pushy travellers that jostled him out of the way to get their bags first. He simply waited calmly, one of the last to leave the baggage claim and enter the busy main terminal.

It didn't take him long to find who he was looking for; the slender brunette was stood amongst the few remaining people waiting for passengers, holding a pink cardboard sign that read "Izumi" in western characters. He travelled to see her often, and she came to Japan when she could afford it, and despite not needing the signs to identify each other, they continued the ruse as a small inside joke. He smiled and waved at her when she met his eye and she waved back. She dropped the sign from infront of her chest and moved towards him, opening her arms.

"Izzy!" she exclaimed, embracing him. He hugged her back tightly; once, a long time ago, he had barely come up to her shoulders. Now though he was tall enough to stand at least a head above her.

"Mimi," he replied as they let go, the embrace far too short for his liking. "It's been too longer." He almost hit himself; he always said that. She giggled at his response.

"It has," she agreed. "How have you been?" Now they were moving out of the terminal, towards the parking lot.

"It's the same old," he replied. "I got a new job at a school as the IT technician – it's actually the old school we all used to go to. Well, not you, of course, you moved to America, but..." He trailed off, unsure of where his words were taking him. "So...how about you? I see you're back to brown again." She picked a few strands of wavy, chocolate brown hair from her shoulder and twirled it inbetween her fingers at the reference.

"Yeah, I didn't feel..._professional _with pink hair, y'know?" she replied. "I figured it was better for me to go back to being natural for a while." He nodded.

"Well, it looks good on you." She blushed slightly at the compliment and he smiled at her.

"Thanks," she said quietly, brushing a few loose strands behind her ear.

The rest of the walk was spent in a comfortable silence, and Koushiro found himself stopping infront of a dusty-pink convertible. He looked at Mimi, raising an eyebrow, and she shrugged in a silent response.

"What?" she asked defensively. "You can be professional with a pink car." Now it was his turn to shrug – he couldn't argue with that. And the pink convertible just seemed to fit Mimi – he couldn't honestly imager her driving anything else.

Mimi brought the roof down and Koushiro threw his duffel back on the backseat, carefully followed by his rucksack. He then slid into the passenger seat at the front and buckled up, waiting for Mimi to start the car.

The forty minute drive from the airport was filled with small talk and playful banter. Koushiro learnt that she had recently be promoted to head waitress at the restaurant she had been working at for the last two years (slightly more stressful, but double the pay). Seeing and serving the dishes had inspired her to become a chef – a large career jump from fashion design, but she said it appealed to her more. He also discovered that although her father had bought her a house in Beverly Hills for her birthday, Mimi much preferred her small apartment and handful of friends, most of whom lived nearby.

Mimi pulled up into her reserved spot in the connected outdoor parking lot, and Koushiro looked up at the tall apartment block. Although a far cry from a high-maintenance lifestyle, it was by no means a ruin. The outer door could have been a little more well-kept, and some colour wouldn't be wasted, but everything necessary seemed fine. The banisters didn't wobble and the staircases didn't squeak, and when they finally stopped on the sixth floor, Koushiro found Mimi's apartment to be quite a reasonable size. The living room was spacious and joined onto a moderate kitchen. Two more side doors lead off from the main room to what Koushiro assumed were a bedroom and bathroom. The walls were cream and the furniture a mix of beiges and browns that both complimented and contrasted each other. The lack of pink did not go unnoticed by Koushiro.

"Okay, so you'll be on the sofa again, but it's a pull out bed now – I bought it second hand off an old friend downtown," she explained as he placed his stuff on the floor. "It's quite comfortable and...What's that beeping noise?" Her head cocked to the side and she curiously ventured towards the kitchen. Koushiro listened for it as well, and after a moment recognised it. He turned to his duffel bag and rummaged through the outer pockets, looking for the offending object. Finally he withdrew it – the silver-coloured D-Terminal given to those chosen to be Digidestined all those years ago. He had rediscovered it (as well as messages about several reunions that he had undoubtedly missed) amongst other miscellaneous items he had lost or misplaced over the years (in truth they had all been packed into the same box when he had moved out of his parents' house). He had then spent a jobless summer tinkering with it to make it almost a miniature laptop. He could access his e-mails and text messages from it, but he was unable to surf the internet fully.

Koushiro glanced over to Mimi who was bustling around the kitchen, checking all the appliances for the source of the beeping. Opening the lid, Koushiro typed in his password and called over to Mimi, "I've found it." Mimi pulled her head out of the microwave and gave him a sceptical look before noticing the device in his hand.

"Seriously?" she asked. He didn't answer, instead read the message on the screen.

_Hey Izzy_

_I know it's been a while, and I wish this could just be a regular e-mail to see how things are going, but I need to ask a favour. Have you been able to get in contact with Gennai recently? Because Hikari's gone missing. Daisuke and Takeru haven't heard a thing, but they're looking. She's not the type to just run off, so I'm assuming it's something digital, but all I get when I try to contact Gennai is static. Any chance you could try for me? I wouldn't bother you but I'm desperate. I need to know where my sister is._

_Please let me know if you can do anything to help._

_Tai_

Koushiro paused thoughtfully; this didn't add up. Taichi was right – Hikari wouldn't just run away, although Koushiro hadn't seen her in so long, he couldn't say that for definite. But any changes in her personality would have been noticed by Daisuke or Takeru at the very least. He came to the same conclusion as Taichi – this had to be something digital related.

"Izzy?" Mimi asked, walking over to him cautiously. "What's wrong?" He looked slowly up at her, still processing the message.

"Hikari's missing."

*****

Hikari was glad to be free of the mermaids' hate-filled glares. The highly-strung women had paid avid attention to Peter, but as soon as his story was over (or whenever his back was turned) they were relentless in their attempts to drown her. They had almost succeeded at one point, but Peter had turned round just in time. He had obviously enjoyed being the centre of attention, but when a dark cloud had hidden the sun, the mermaids had disappeared, and Peter had jumped into action, a smirk upon his face. Hikari had followed, desperate to get away from the lagoon. They had flown to Cannibal Cove and were currently staring out to the sea through the eyeholes.

"See that?" Peter asked, pointing out to the ocean, darkened by the grey clouds overhead. Hikari followed his pointed finger and saw a giant ship, with an elegant carved mermaid upon it's bow. It was too far away to see any people on deck, but she looked to the mast and noticed the flag – a pirate flag.

"That's Hook's ship," Peter explained, "and you can't really be one of us until you've fought him."

"F-fought him?!" Hikari asked in surprise, turning to Peter.

Peter nodded, shrugging.

"It's easy! He's just a huge codfish!" Peter answered. "Just watch!" He flew off through the eyehole before Hikari had a chance to protest, and she simply sat and waited. Surely he would realise what a fool he was being to try and take on a ship full of pirates. But...he had done it before, hadn't he? She couldn't tell the different between fact and fiction in his stories, but there seemed to be some truth in them all. Perhaps... Hikari sighed.

"I must be out of my mind," she groaned. Kicking off the rock, Hikari flew after Peter. Realising she didn't have a weapon, she summoned her keyblade, and it was ready in her hand when she touched her feet down on the deck.

Looking around she gasped – there were no humans on deck, instead only an army of heartless coming from every angle. Peter was nowhere to be found.

Deciding he could take care of himself (she hoped), Hikari turned to the heartless, swinging her keyblade mercilessly. At first, Kurokiba's kind swarmed her, and she beat them back as well as she could, but then they seemed to back down, as if to an unseen command. With the slight pause, Hikari managed to have a quick look around, and she saw the pirate from the day before who had held Tinkerbelle in the glass prison. But then she realised there wasn't just one – there were at least seven, maybe eight – and they all had completely black skin, and yellow dots for eyes (the ones that weren't hidden under an eyepatch). As they swarmed towards her, Hikari realised with a jolt that they must be more heartless, only a different kind. And though it was only an assumption, her thoughts were confirmed when she attacked one of the oncoming pirates and they disappeared in black smoke.

She almost groaned – now she had not only to deal with the little heartless (which seemed to attacking harder and stronger than ever before) but also these pirates, which seemed to have an enormous amount of strength. It took her at least nine or ten hits with her keyblade to defeat them. It was impossible! They just kept coming! Hikari could feel her muscles getting weak – she was starting to tire now, and she didn't know how long she could last.

"So the princess has a keyblade?" a voice asked, echoing around the ship. The heartless backed away, melting into the shadows of the floor. Hikari turned around and saw an ominous figure standing on the higher deck. He was dressed in a long red cloak-like jacket, and had wavy black hair kept under control by a large, red hat. In one hand he held a sword, and Hikari noticed that the other hand was not a hand at all, but a silver hook.

"Captain Hook," she whispered to herself. The captain looked at her and laughed.

"A little girl," he continued. "You should be telling stories and entertaining Pan, shouldn't you?" Hikari growled lightly, setting into a defensive stance, and Hook laughed at her again, raising his own sword into a half-hearted attempt at readying to fight.

Hikari felt her anger surge – nobody called her a 'little girl'. Eyes narrowed in rage, she charged forwards, keyblade at the ready. Hook's face quickly changed from smug satisfaction to complete terror as Hikari flew towards him. She swung at him and caught him in the side, sending him staggering backwards, and Hikari landed where he had been standing. Hook sent her an angry glare.

"Heartless!" he cried. "Take care of her!" Hikari felt shock run through her – this was the person controlling the heartless? She beat a few pirates back and thought; if she didn't take him out, the heartless would probably just keep coming for her. Her gut told her she was right and so, ignoring the mounting numbers of heartless, she focused her anger on the red-clad captain. He had to be taken out first.

She followed, close on his tail as he ran away from her. Jumping after him, she landed and planted the keyblade into the wooden floor, catching Hook's jacket. The captain stumbled forwards and fell onto the deck as Hikari removed her keyblade, rushing to him. She swung for his head to knock him unconscious, but he moved his head out of the way just in time. Hikari's keyblade stuck inbetween the wooden slats of the deck, and she tried to wrench it out, but found it too hard to remove. Suddenly she was flying backwards and she landed heavily on her back, cracking some of the floorboards beneath her. With tremendous effort, she managed to prop herself up on her back to get her breath back and saw with shock that Hook was reaching for the keyblade.

"No!" she yelled, thrusting her hand forwards. Hook smirked at her and placed his hand around the handle.

Suddenly there was a blinding white light, and Hikari fell backwards, shielding her eyes. When the light died, Hikari looked up again and found Hook nowhere, and her keyblade was nowhere to be seen. Looking around, she noticed that the heartless had disappeared too. She distantly heard screaming and, curious, she scurried to the side of the ship to look out over the waters. She laughed at the sight that met her – Hook was somehow managing to run on the water, his legs moving frantically as he covered the distance quickly, a large crocodile following behind him, snapping his jaws, and the both of them followed by a short, plump pirate in a rowing boat, trying desperately to catch up.

Hearing a crowing sound, Hikari turned to find Peter descending from the crow's nest, hands on hips.

"That was amazing!" he exclaimed. "Told you Hook would be easy!" She smiled lightly, looking around. There was something she had to do, besides finding her keyblade.

At the thought, she felt a weight in her hand. Looking down she saw her keyblade had reappeared and was vibrating wildly. Letting it control her, Hikari found herself pointed towards a highly decorated wall that must have led to a cabin. A glow on the wall and a large keyhole appeared; the keyblade vibrated up her arm and Hikari pointed it towards the keyhole. A solid beam of light left the tip of the keyblade and entered the keyhole, sealing it shut in a spectacular light show.

When it was finished, the keyblade disappeared and Hikari turned to Peter who was gaping at her, a look that didn't suit him.

"What was _that_?" he asked.

"Your world will be safe now," Hikari said, not sure of what else she could say. Thankfully she was saved from any further conversation as a bright light shot from the sky, landing next to her, travelling faster than anything Hikari had ever seen before, and yet she didn't feel a thing as it made contact with the deck. The light faded and Mickey stood, keyblade in hand, eyes searching the area. When he noticed (almost immediately) that there seemed to be no threat, he relaxed, and the keyblade vanished.

"Sorry, fellas," he apologised, "I got down as soon as I could, but it seems I've missed the fight! Everything's good to go on the ship, and seeing as you've locked the keyhole, I think we'd better be going." Hikari nodded – her time with Peter had been fun, but there were pressing matters to attend to. She turned to Peter (who was looking at Mickey with a look of shock).

"Goodbye, Peter," she said, finding this goodbye only somewhat easier than the one she shared with Edward and Nancy. He only nodded back to her, and Hikari was about to turn to Mickey, ready to go, when a glowing ball of glitter appeared infront of her face, looking quite annoyed. Hikari giggled.

"Of course I didn't forget about you, Tinkerbelle," she said as the fairy hovered infront of her face. Tinkerbelle flew down to Hikari's hand, and Hikari held it out so she could stand on her palm. Tinkerbelle crouched down, touched Hikari's palm and then flew away, curling Hikari's fingers into a loose fist as a light began to erupt from her palm. When the light dimmed, Hikari uncurled her fingers and saw a little fairy pendant, silver but glittering with green and gold sparks. Upon closer inspection, the pendant seemed to be a freeze of Tinkerbelle herself, right down to the bobbles on her slippers. Hikari slipped it into her pocket carefully and then looked at Tinkerbelle and smiled.

"Thank you," she said, and Tinkerbelle flew around her once more, coating every inch of her in pixie dust. Hikari sneezed slightly as she turned to Mickey, and together they returned to the ship.

Aboard the Gummi ship, Hikari sat on one of the sofas and toyed with the little pendant as Mickey moved around the cabin, muttering.

"You're second world, locked," Mickey said, although he seemed to be talking more to himself, "and yet still... Hmmm, I wonder... Yes, I think that would be very helpful." He stopped pacing and Hikari looked up at him, slightly confused. He stared back at her.

"Hikari, I'm taking you to Disney Castle."

*****

Pebbles: A bit of an anti-climatic fight scene, I know, but I wanted to finish it quickly and get it posted. I'll try and make up for it in the next battle. I'm so glad Neverland is over! This has been the hardest thing I've written so far. Ever.

So let me know what you think? Hopefully I'll be settling back into a routine soon, what with school starting up again and everything. So every other Friday should mean a new chapter for all of you! (And, fingers crossed, I can try and get a few finished before the publish date.)

**Quote**:

GENIE: Once again, this broadcast has been brought to you by _SAND – _It's everywhere! Get used to it! [_From Aladdin: Prince of Thieves_]

**REFERENCE POINTS:**

Want to get this chapter up quickly, so anything you want to know about, google it please. :D

**REVIEW RESPONSES:**

[Responses to about 5 reviews]

Thanks to **name, name **and** name **_(etc.)_ for adding this story to their Favourites list.

Thanks to **name **and **name** _(etc.) _for adding this story to their Alert list!

Pebbles: [Final comments]


	10. Chapter 10 Rewrite Explained

Author's Note – Please read, it contains good news!

Okay, guys, I'm really sorry about this. It's been such a long time since I've updated this story. I'm not dead, no worries, but there's been a lot going on. In the time it's taken me to get back on track, however, I have finished Kingdom Hearts 1, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts 2, meaning that I now understand a lot more of the storyline, and as this story stands, nothing fits where I want it to.

Please let me be clear that I am not discontinuing the story.

Instead, this story is headed for a major rewrite. I will address any issues that ahve been brought up to me in private messages or reviews, and also get Hikari's story fitting in more with the KH1 timeline, to set up for a sequel. Plans are in motion, storylines are whirring in my head, and this story will be rewritten and made better in general. Better writing (I feel I have grown since beginning this story) and also a better feel to it.

Please bear with me. I know I am asking a lot of you, dear readers, but I hope it will be worth it. I will try and get a huge head on this beast over the next few days – I have nothing else to do, so I will try my best to rewrite the first few chapters – and then I will upload in one huge bulk. I will be moving this story to the Crossover Section, but I will post one final author's note in this story when that is uploaded. Of course, you could always put me on your Author Alert list (many thanks to those who have).

I'm going to go and start planning now, and hopefully within the next few days this story will be back up and running, and making a lot more sense.

Thank you again for putting up with me. If anyone has any suggestions, please leave them in a review and I will do my best to incorporate your ideas.

Pebbles


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